

EXAS 
STORIES 





KATIE DAFFAN 




■ 




Book .1^12- 
GopyiightN" 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



TEXAS 
HERO STOEIES 

AN 
HISTORICAL READER FOR THE GRADES 



BY 

KATIE DAFFAN 

n 



ov TToXX dWa TToXv 



BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO. 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 






F 



II iiiii miiKMrntm^i^ 

LIBRARY of CONGRESS. 



TwoCoplM Recesvoo 
JAN 29 1908 

Oopyna.H tntry . 
/^^^ 7 /'T^J 
0U8»4^ XXc. 1^0, 

COPY B. 

I I I I I m l 1 1 I— 



Copyright, 1908 
By KATIE DAFFAN 



typography and plates by 
The Vail Company, Coshocton, Ohio 



xro mi^ f atber 



CONTEXTS 

PAGE 

A Knight of King Louis i 

The Founders of the Empire 15 

On the Trail with a Bear Hunter 2>7 

A Fight Within a Convent Wall 51 

Measuring Deer Tracks 59 

Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 75 

The Rangers on the Plains 89 

The Hero of Shiloh . . iii 

Our War Governor 119 

The Old Roman 125 

The Tribune of the People 131 

The Sibyl's Story 137 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Texas State Capitol Frontispiece 

L\ Salle page i 

Stephen F. Austin page 15 

David Crockett page 37 

The Alamo page 51 

Sam Houston page 59 

Albert Sidney Johnston page 11 1 

Francis R. Lubbock page 119 

John H. Reagan page 125 

James Stephen Hogg page 131 



INTRODUCTION 

Texas history, with its heroic achievement, ad- 
venture, dangerous situation, sacrifice and martyr- 
dom, appeals to our imagination and our love of 
romance, as well as to our patriotism, our pride and 
undying gratitude, and it affords fascinating ground 
for the story-teller. 

To-day, the best school readers for the grades 
are those which give some continuity of subject, 
and I have felt that a reader for Texas children, 
based upon Texas history, would be opportune and 
helpful. It has been my purpose in the prepara- 
tion of these stories to present a brief, biographical 
sketch and to give something of the service to 
Texas of the heroes selected. I have consulted 
diaries, histories, journals and records, and it has 
been my privilege to obtain interesting data from 
some of those loyal citizens of Texas wdio are now. 
in the excellence of their service, making Texas 
history. 

I wish to express genuine appreciation to those 
dear friends who, by their constant encourage- 
ment and interest, have made the preparation of 
these stories a pleasure. To those friends who 
have placed at my disposal their private libraries, 
many of them containing rare books. I wish to ex- 



Introduction 

press my appreciation, as I do to those who have 
assisted me in obtaining appropriate photographs 
and pictures. 

In the behef that the Sibyl's Story is all true, that 
*' all things are possible to us, and the best is yet 
to come," that through the diligence and energy 
of her devoted sons and daughters Texas is des- 
tined to retain her high place in civic excellence, 
and that the Texans of to-day are worthy descend- 
ants of their noble sires, these stories are offered to 
the children. 

K. D. 

Dallas, Texas, January, 1908. 




Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle. 



TEXAS HERO STORIES 



A KNIGHT OF KING LOUIS 

LaSalle, the most distinguished adventurer of 
the seventeenth century, was a knight, pure, true 
and loyal. Fearless, intelli.s:ent, of excellent family, 
his devotion to his king was of the nature of a re- 
ligious sentiment, and his love for his church of the 
kind that would seek to endure martyrdom. 

For energy, self-reliance, courage, force of will 
and persistency in a chosen pursuit, he has had few 
equals ; and with it all his character shows a perfect 
faith and a resignation to Divine will. 

Impulsive and quick to reach a decision, he was 
tireless in his efforts to mature his ideas and 
plans, and he shared each duty assigned to his men. 
He worked with them, side by side, made sacrifices 
for them, gave tender care to the sick and afflicted, 
provided as best he could for the women and chil- 
dren, and amid the bleakest surroundings and the 
most discouraging and sickening conditions he 
showed the adaptation to circumstances seen only 
in those truly noble. 

He worked on and on, with faith that never fal- 

I 



2 Texas Hero Stories 

tered, sustaining and upholding those less cour- 
ageous than himself, ever mindful of the welfare of 
others and neglecting his own, faithful to his coun- 
try, his king and his God. 

Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle, *' the 

father of colonization " in the great valley of the 

middle west, was born in Rouen, the proud cap- 

' ital of Normandy, France, in 1643, and he was 

carefully educated for the priesthood. 

France, as were the other countries of Europe, 
was deeply interested in the stories that were afloat 
about " America ;" the new country was talked 
about everywhere, and the several European mon- 
archs were sending expeditions to explore and take 
possession. 

LaSalle, young, ambitious, bold and restless, was 
attracted to Canada, where he hoped to make a for- 
tune among the fur traders and trappers. He 
made the dangerous journey from France to Can- 
ada, and in a birch bark canoe explored the scat- 
tered lakes and rivers. 

Nobody knew the size of America, whether it 
was 500 or 5,000 miles across. They knew that the 
Pacific ocean was somewhere to the west of the 
Great Lakes, but more than this they did not know. 

LaSalle had a majestic plan; he thought he could 
go up the St. Lawrence river, through the lakes to 
Lake Superior, from the western outlet of which he 
confidently believed he would be in easy reach of 
the Pacific ocean, then to sail in triumph for China, 



A Knight of King Louis 3 

thereby placing the route from Asia to Europe un- 
der the control of France, and making valuable be- 
yond calculation the French possessions in America. 

The Indians had talked much of a great river 
many miles to the west, which flowed into the sea. 
They called it " The Father of Waters." LaSalle 
thought this great river must be the route to the 
Pacific ocean, so, after gaining permission of the 
governor of Canada, he set out to find the " Father 
of Waters." 

Exposed to every danger, the treachery of his 
enemies, the cruelties of the Indians, starvation and 
the sickness and death of some of his men, LaSalle, 
for eleven years, wandered through the ice and 
snow, across the lakes, up and down the St. Law- 
rence river, and at the head waters of the Missis- 
sippi. It was in February, 1682, before he em- 
barked upon the "Great River" (the Mississippi), 
which he named " Colbert," in honor of the great 
French minister. The river was so blocked with 
ice that passage was impossible and the party could 
do nothing but stop and camp to wait for the melt- 
ing of the snow. 

W^hen the journey was resumed, the first stop 
was made at the mouth of the Missouri river, 
where the party was kindly received at an Indian 
village. 

The Indians told LaSalle that by sailing up the 
Missouri river for twelve miles he would find the 
place, in a range of mountains, where the great 



4 Texas Hero Stories 

river took its rise, and that from the heights of 
the snow-capped mountains he could see the Pa- 
cific ocean where mighty ships with rich cargoes 
were saihng. 

The Indians knew wonderful stories of the rivers, 
mountains and forests, and LaSalle grew more and 
more excited and determined to find the Pacific 
ocean. 

He did not follow the Indians' suggestion of as- 
cending the Missouri, but continued his journey 
down the Mississippi, stopping at the mouth of the 
Ohio, where the party secured much game and ex- 
plored the forests and caves. 

As they followed the river to the southward the 
air became mellow and perfumed, the banks wid- 
ened into flower-covered prairies, moss hung from 
the trees, and the admiration and enthusiasm of the 
explorers were boundless. 

They knew, from the widening banks, the salt in 
the water and the breeze and the quiet current that 
the sea was near ; but it was not the Pacific ocean, 
but the Gulf of Mexico, to which they had safely 
journeyed. 

LaSalle landed and amid great rejoicing, fervent 
prayers and exultant cries of " Long Live the 
King:," erected a column inscribed with the arms 
of France and the words, '' Louis the Great Reigns ; 
April 9, 1682." Then, in solemn voice, he pro- 
claimed : '' Henceforth, my God and my king. 



A Knight of King Louis 5 

supreme forever, over the innumerable souls and 
unmeasurable lands of this great continent." He 
named the country " Louisiana " in honor of the 
King. 

. So delighted was LaSalle with the new country, 
its beauties, and its possibilities, that he resolved to 
return at once to Canada, then to France, to lay 
his plan of " founding a new and greater France " 
before King Louis, and to obtain royal permission 
to begin permanent settlements near the mouth of 
the Mississippi river. 

He reached Canada in safety and sailed for 
France, arriving at Rochelle in December, 1683. 

King Louis XIV called the " Grand Monarque," 
listened with rapt attention to LaSalle's earnest ac- 
count of the rich lands, the mighty rivers, the In- 
dians that should be made Christians and his desire 
to add such mighty domain to France. 

The king approved the plans and pledged his as- 
sistance ; he conferred upon LaSalle the title of the 
nobilitv, gave him a monopoly of the fur trade in 
Canada and appointed him governor of all lands 
which he might discover. 

Four ships were prepared for the return journey; 
the Joli, a man of war, the Bcllc, a frigate, the Ami- 
able and St. Francis, supply ships, containing food, 
settlers' goods and goods to trade with the Indians. 
The Belle was the personal gift from the king to 
LaSalle. 



6 Texas Hero Stories 

The party embarking included five priests, twelve 
young gentlemen, fifty soldiers and twelve families 
of immigrants. 

On the 24th day of July, 1684, the four ships 
sailed from Rochelle, but on account of an accident 
to the JoU, and a return to Rochelle to have her re- 
paired, the fleet did not make final sail until the first 
day of August. 

The voyage was perilous, the sea rough, and La- 
Salle and his naval commander, Beaujeu, had a 
quarrel, which became more and more personal and 
disagreeable as the journey advanced. 

The St. Francis being a slow sailer, was captured 
by a Spanish man of war, the fleet was unneces- 
sarily delayed at the West Indies, LaSalle had a 
frightful illness, almost losing his mind, and many 
of the party were ill from the sudden climatic 
change, but in spite of it all the fleet finally entered 
the Gulf of INIexico. 

Going further and further down the coast, the 
party looked daily for the mouth of the great river, 
but nothing could be seen which indicated that they 
were near it. Mutiny was threatened, general dis- 
content reigned, and La Salle's troubles seemed to 
be without end. 

At last, one day an opening was discovered in the 
coast line, the water between the low points of the 
opening was muddy and discolored, and LaSalle 
decided that it was the Mississippi. But he was 



A Knight of King Louis 7 

mistaken ; he had gone too far to the west and was 
saiHng along the Texas coast. 

He tried to land at a number of points to the 
west, but he was kept out by the sandbars and 
breakers. 

As he sailed to the westward he noticed the broad 
uninterrupted prairies covered with the silvery grass 
and he remembered that he had seen no such coun- 
try around the Mississippi, and he became fright- 
ened for fear he was lost. 

Before he had fully realized his error he had 
sailed 500 miles too far to the westward ; he turned 
and slowly sailed to the east, entering Pass Cavallo 
on the west side of San Bernardo or Matagorda 
bay, landing on the sixteenth day of February, 1685. 
LaSalle thought he had reached the western mouth 
of the Mississippi river. 

The first occurrence after the arrival upon the 
Texas coast was not calculated to inspire enthusi- 
asm and hopefulness. LaSalle watched from the 
shore the ship Amiable run aground. She con- 
tained the food supplies, the ammunition, the medi- 
cine, the clothing and the tools, and to the now 
faint-hearted LaSalle this loss meant the temporary 
abandonment of his cherished plans. She was lost 
through the obstinacy of Captain Beaujeu, who 
sought opportunities to provoke LaSalle. 

It was impossible to float the vessel, but a part 
of the supplies were brought in small boats to the 



8 Texas Hero Stories 

shores by the Indians. In the night a storm com- 
pletely destroyed her. This was a serious trial, but 
LaSalle endured it without losing hope or courage. 

The location was poor, the food was lost, there 
was no water to drink, save that from the bay, and 
sickness and death visited the camp, some of the , 
men dying each day. To add to this sad condition, 
the Indians, who were friendly at first, plundered 
the camp and stole everything valuable, especially 
the blankets, so the campers suffered from the cold 
and exposure. Ory and Desloges, two of LaSalle's 
men, were murdered by the Indians. 

Ill-luck continued. Beaujeu, vain and pompous, 
proud of his office as " naval commander," and 
seeking every opportunity to show his authority, 
now openly refused to obey LaSalle. He made up 
his mind to return to France and could not be per- 
suaded to remain. 

With about forty of the company — and LaSalle 
couldn't spare any of them — all of the cannon and 
a large cpiantity of the food, Beaujeu sailed on the 
JoU, the best remaining vessel, leaving only the 
BcUc as a menns of further exploration. 

This was enough to dishearten any man, how- 
ever heroic, but LaSalle recovered from his disap- 
pointment, and, leaving Joutel, who could always be 
depended upon, in command of the camp, he sailed 
with a few boats and a party of well-armed men 
to the head of the bay, where he found a river com- 
ine in from the north. 



A Knight of King Louis 9 

He concluded that this was one of the mouths 
of the Mississippi, but as he ascended it, instead 
of its growing wider, it grew narrower, its waters 
became clear, and instead of great trees along the 
banks, there were miles of unbroken lands covered 
with grass upon which wandered herds of buffalo. 

LaSalle realized that it was not the :Mississippi, 
but another river, and he named it Lavaca, or " Cow 
River," from the buffalo-cows which he found near 
it. Even this disappointment did not deter LaSaUe 
from his determination to find the Mississippi; he 
seemed proof against discouragement. 

When he returned to camp he found everything 
in disorder and the men down-hearted, rebellious 
and angry with him for bringing them to such a 
desolate place to die. They had plotted to murder 
Joutel, who had so faithfully protected them, and 
they constantly quarreled among themselves. 

Added to these internal troubles, the Indians came 
to the camp every night to steal what they could, 
and the Spaniards threatened the life of every white 
man who stepped upon the shore. 

Some of the men deserted, a number were 
drowned, and one of the bravest ones died from a 
rattlesnake bite. 

LaSalle ordered the removal of the women and 
children to the place he had selected for a fort on 
the Lavaca river. With many difficulties, for there 
were no oxen to haul the wood, and no carpenters in 
the party, the fort was erected. It was divided into 



10 Texas Hero Stories 

rooms, a cellar was built where the ammunition was 
to be kept, a tower was erected at each of the four 
corners and openings were left in the walls to keep 
off the Indian attacks. 

A little chapel was erected and the whole was 
fenced in ; to the little fortress LaSalle gave the 
name St. Louis, in honor of the King of France. 

No sooner had the colonists settled themselves in 
Fort St. Louis than LaSalle -determined again to 
locate the great river, so on the thirty-first day of 
October, 1685, with a party of selected men, he set 
out. After a fruitless search, weeks of wandering 
through swamp and forest, exposed to the Indians, 
without food, water or clothes, the few who were 
spared sorrowfully found their way back to the fort. 

The conditions at the fort could not have been 
worse. 

The Belle, while going across the bay, had been 
lost somewhere near Dog island, thus removing all 
means of leaving the coast. The ammunition was 
nearly exhausted, the Indians seeing their advan- 
tage, became more and more hostile, death invaded 
the camp, the men, women and children had died, 
and LaSalle, now that all hope seemed gone, be- 
came dangerously ill, and for days lay in an uncon- 
scious condition. 

But his life was spared, and just as soon as he 
was able to travel, with his nephew, Moranget, his 
brother and eighteen others, leaving Joutel in 
charge, he started for the northeast. 



A Knight of King Louis ii 

Their first stop was at the village of the Cenis 
Indians, on the Trinity river, who received them 
kindly, and gave them food supplies. To LaSalle 
they showed much attention and kindness and he 
enjoyed a long-needed rest; the Indians gave a 
feast, entertaining and dehghting their visitors with 
a war dance. 

So fascinated had the men become with the In- 
dians that in less than a day's journey from the vil- 
lage four of them deserted and returned to live 
with the Indians. 

While LaSalle and tw^o of his men were crossing 
the Brazos river in Hght cane canoes, a great alli- 
gator drew one of the men under the water. There 
had seemed no limit to the uncanny and terrible 
sights that brave LaSalle was called upon to witness ; 
now one of his fearless companions, who had stood 
with him in every vicissitude of unexpected danger, 
was snatched away in the most frightful, hideous 
manner. Because of the sad accident LaSalle 
named the river Maligne. 

After a six months' wandering, only eight of the 
explorers wdio had left Fort St. Louis, returned, 
weary and heart-sick. 

It w^as no time now to talk of finding the great 
river which Joutel called the " Fatal River." Words 
of hope and encouragement had little meaning to 
the poor, starved, crushed and unhappy colonists. 
LaSalle's mind was now centered upon saving the 
lives of his people, so, after providing for the suf- 



12 Texas Hero Stories 

ferers in the fort as best he could, with just half 
of the colonists he bade farewell to Fort St. Louis 
on the twelfth day of January, 1687, and started for 
Canada. 

With LaSalle's party were his brother Cavelier. 
his nephew ]\Ioranget, the good priest Father 
Anastasc, Liotat a surgeon, Duhaut, Joutel, and 
Saget and Xika, two Indian servants. 

Over trackless prairies, through dense and be- 
wildering forests, they journeyed in a northeasterly 
direction until on the sixteenth day of March, 
they reached the Xeches river, where a quarrel 
which had been brewing a long time, broke into 
action. 

Duhaut and Liotat had all the while been ene- 
mies to LaSalle and his ambitions ; now they de- 
termined to kill him. They formed a conspiracy 
to kill Moranget, LaSalle's beloved nephew, then to 
kill LaSalle. They carried out their murderous 
plans. 

Moranget, Nika and Saget were murdered in 
camp while they slept, Liotat striking the fatal 
blows. 

LaSalle, while searching for Moranget, with Fa- 
ther Anastase and an Indian guide, was waylaid 
and murdered by Duhaut and Liotat, who lay hid- 
den in the tall grass. LaSalle, shot in the head 
and chest, fell on the nineteenth day of March, 1687. 
'Twas not enou^rh for the fiends to cowardlv take 



A Knight of King Louis 13 

this brave man's hfe, they stripped the body and 
left it a prey for wolves and wild birds. 

After LaSalle's death the expedition went to 
pieces. Some of the party joined the Indians. La- 
Salle's brother, with six others, joined a post which 
had been erected in 1686 in the " land of the Ar- 
kansas." 

In April, 1689, ^ force under Alonzo de Leon was 
sent from Mexico to destroy Fort St. Louis, but the 
fort was found deserted. Those who had escaped 
starvation had been captured by the Indians. 

La.Salle did not reach the Mississippi to colonize 
a '' great empire in the name of the mighty king of 
France," but he was the forerunner, and the initia- 
tor of the marvelous work which followed his. 

Though at the time LaSalle seems to have failed, 
at this period of our country's excellence, we at- 
tribute to him success, glory and honor. lie was 
the first white man to make a settlement in Texas. 
With every disadvantage and discouragement, he 
persisted in his object and could not be deterred 
therefrom. Texans and Americans give praise and 
appreciation to this bold and gallant Soldier of For- 
tune. 




Stephen F. Austin 



The Founders of the Empire 15 



THE FOUNDERS OF THE EMPIRE 

" A COLONY is a better offering than a victory," 
says Bancroft, and that man, who by fearless 
leadership, control of men and faith in his own pur- 
pose lays the first stone in the foundation of a 
State is entitled to the gratitude of the world. The 
" pioneer " is a hero of his own peculiar kind ; it 
is the pioneer who goes ahead, looks beyond, counts 
the cost and takes the first step in the untried and 
unknown ; it is the pioneer who gives direction to 
history and upon his success or failure depend the 
growth, the character and the happiness of a people. 

There are difficulties in peace and terrors in war, 
all to be mastered by the presence of mind, courage 
and patriotism of heroes, but few conditions ever 
arise in any phase of civil or military government 
equal to the desolation, privation and lonely new- 
ness which must be faced and overcome by the 
sturdy pioneer. He must not only be bold and fear 
no dangers himself, but must instill others, who 
look to him, with faith and hope, bidding them look 
forward to happy homes and contentment. 

The first colony in Texas was planted by Stephen 
F. Austin, who knew not rest, ease, or personal con- 
sideration from the moment he arrived in Texas to 



i6 Texas Hero Stories 

penetrate her dark forests, traverse her virgin 
prairies, discover her treasures and foretell her won- 
derful future, until the last days of that fateful 
era-marking year, 1836, when God, because his 
work had been well done and " pleasing unto Him," 
called him home to rest and reward. 

He takes a place with those heroes who shall 
teach to future ages the majesty of a peerless man- 
hood, a pure heart, a patriot's devotion, energy and 
forbearance ; for '' The Father of Texas," prudent, 
amiable and patient, of eminent talent and the rarest 
virtue, opened to us the highway of civilization 
when all before him was savage, wild and desolate. 

There is an old adage of frequent quoting some- 
thing like this: "A great man's son will ne'er do 
him credit." The two Austins, father and son, con- 
tradict this old saying and prove its fallacy. 

Moses Austin, the father, was a man of strong 
initiative, keen foresight and ready energy ; Stephen, 
the son, was all of these and more. 

Like the two Pitts of England, both father and 
son were far beyond the ordinary, bringing with 
their powers of initiative and leadership a practical 
ability to make others understand and appreciate 
their purposes. Both possessed the necessary share 
of enthusiasm which is required to make great proj- 
ects succeed, and both knew how to impart this 
enthusiasm to others. 

Moses Austin, a native of Durham, Conn., for 
some years a prosperous merchant in Philadelphia, 



The Founders of the Empire 17 

and later in Richmond, Va., heard such marvelous 
accounts of the western wealth, especially the great 
lead mines in Missouri, that he was determined to 
seek his fortune amidst the new scenes ; so, with his 
family he crossed the mountains of Virginia, entered 
the new western country and laid the foundation 
of what is now Washington County, Missouri. 

Through the influence of Baron Carondolet, then 
Governor of Louisiana, he secured a grant of the 
lead mines of Potosi, about forty miles west of St. 
Genevieve where he carried on an extensive and 
profitable mining business. 

At his home, " Durham Hall," he dispensed royal 
hospitality and many of his friends from Virginia 
followed him to make homes in the West and to en- 
gage with him in the mining enterprise. 

When his success was at its height and his for- 
tune had increased far beyond his fondest expecta- 
tions, the failure of the Bank of Missouri caused 
him heavy losses. He became seriously involved, 
and one loss after another so discouraged him that 
he decided to leave INIissouri and seek a stih newer 
country. 

He conferred with his son, Stephen, in whom he 
reposed great confidence, in regard to a plan bv 
which they could go with a colony of Anglo-Ameri- 
cans to the Spanish province, Texas. Young Ste- 
phen was heartily in favor of this plan and the ar- 
rangement was made for Moses Austin to visit 
Texas and ask permission to take the colony. 



i8 Texas Hero Stories 

In 1820 Moses Austin went to San Antonio, then 
the capital of the province, and obtained an inter- 
view with Governor Martinez. The Governor, 
who had received instructions from the Spanish 
Government *' not to allow North Americans to en- 
ter Texas under pain of imprisonment," was very 
brusque and impolite to Austin and ordered him to 
leave immediately. As he slowly walked through 
the garden surrounding the Governor's house, hurt 
at the harsh words, disappointed at the failure 
of his well-laid plan and trying to make up his mind 
that his long journey had failed, he met the Baron 
de Bastrop, whom he had previously known in the 
United States. The Baron, a Prussian in the serv- 
ice of Mexico, formerly a soldier in the army of 
Frederick the Great, was then one of the alcaldes of 
San Antonio. 

After expressing his pleasure at meeting Austin, 
hearing from him the cherished plan of colonizing 
the province, and perceiving the efifect of the ungra- 
cious reception of Governor Martinez, the Baron, 
with great earnestness, went at once to the Gov- 
ernor and persuaded him to again give audience to 
Austin and to consider the colonization enter- 
prise. 

The Governor at the second interview became in- 
terested and at the last quite enthusiastic, for he 
said to Austin : '' You may count upon my assist- 
ance in every way that duty and circumstance will 
permit." Bastrop at once secured permission from 



The Founders of the Empire 19 

the authorities at Monterey for Austin to brine 

o 

three hundred famiHes to Texas. This permission 
was easily secured, because in 1798, when Spain 
owned the Louisiana territory, Austin became a 
Spanish subject, so he was exempt from the law 
which, at that time, forbade foreio:ners settling in 
Texas. 

Austin's homeward journey was filled with ter- 
rors and trials. On account of the Gachupin war 
the country from the Sabine River to San Antonio 
was practically uninhabited and while crossing this 
broad expanse of country, when more than two 
hundred miles from any settlement, he was robbed 
and cruelly deserted by his companions. 

After wandering for weeks and weeks in an ex- 
hausted and enfeebled condition, subsisting upon 
acorns and herbs, he at last found his way to the 
McGoffin settlement, on the Sabine River, where he 
rested and somewhat regained his strength before 
resuming the journey homeward. He reached his 
home in Missouri finally, his energ\^ undampened 
and his bold spirit unquenched by numerous hard- 
ships. In the spring of 1821 he began active opera- 
tions to remove permanently to Texas. But his 
faith in his plans and his almost supernatural 
energy could not resist the fatal disease which was 
slowly creeping upon him. 

The exposure to the blasts of winter, the long- 
nights spent in the snow and soaking rain, the 
weeks without proper food and the terrible anxiety, 



20 Texas Hero Stories 

brought his hfe to an end on the tenth day of June, 
1 82 1, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. 

Just a few days before his death he received no- 
tice from the Spanish authorities that his appHca- 
tion for permission to plant a colony in Texas had 
received all of the necessary indorsements and he 
would be welcomed at any time. 

His last words were an earnest request that his 
son, Stephen F. Austin, should colonize the Prov- 
ince of Texas. The father was spared the trials, 
hardships and sufifering incident to the develop- 
ment of his plan. In the providence of God that 
was to be the life work of the son. 

Stephen Fuller Austin, born at Austinville, near 
New River, Wythe County, Virginia, on the third 
day of Xovember, 1793, when a very small boy was 
taught self-dependence and to draw upon his own 
resources. At the age of eleven years he was sent 
to school at Calchester Academy, Connecticut, 
where he remained one year, thence to the academy 
at New London, where he remained three years, and 
last to Transylvania University, Kentucky, where 
for two years he made a good record. 

Upon leaving the university he w^as elected to 
the Territorial Legislature of Missouri from Wash- 
ington County, and was re-elected for three succes- 
sive years. 

When Moses Austin lost the accumulated savings 
of more than twenty successful years, due to the 
failure of the Bank of Missouri, and went to Texas 



The Founders of the Empire 21 

to make application in person to the Governor to 
plant a colony there, Stephen, who with great earn- 
estness entered into the colonization scheme, pur- 
chased a small farm at Long Prairie, on Red River, 
in the Arkansas territory, to be a place for rest and 
recruiting for the colonists as they journeyed to 
Texas. 

In 1819, while at Long Prairie, Stephen was ap- 
pointed Circuit Judge in the Arkansas Territory. 
In 1820 he went to New Orleans to investigate the 
means by which the colonists might enter Texas 
and to study the laws which would prepare him for 
his duties of colonization. In June he heard from 
Natchitoches, Louisiana, that the commissioner, Don 
Erasmo Seguin, sent by Governor Martinez, to es- 
cort his father's colony into Texas, had arrived and 
was waiting there for the colony. Stephen has- 
tened to Natchitochs to meet the commissioner and 
after waiting there a few days and receiving no 
message from his father, started with the party for 
Texas. 

They had not crossed the Sabine River when 
Stephen Austin, hearing that letters had arrived for 
him at Natchitoches, hastily returned to receive 
them. They advised him of his father's death. 
Realizing the tremendous responsibility which rested 
upon him and firm in his pledge to prove himself 
worthy of his noble father, he faithfully accepted 
the trust which his father in his dying moments had 
left him and gave his life to Texas. Don Erasmo 



22 Texas Hero Stories 

Seguin received him, as his father's successor, and 
the journey to Texas was continued, the party 
crossing the Sabine River on the sixteenth day of 
July and reaching the Guadahipe River on the tenth 
day of August. 

Upon the arrival of the party in San Antonio, 
Governor Martinez extended formal welcome to 
Austin and bade him select the site to plant his 
colony. He was not long in deciding upon the beau- 
tiful piece of country watered by the Brazos and 
the Colorado Rivers. 

Austin now returned to New Orleans to bring his 
colonists to Texas. With the aid of his friend, J. 
L. Hawkins, he fitted out a small schooner Lively, 
which, having on board eighteen passengers, pro- 
visions, arms and ammunition, sailed for Texas on 
the twentieth day of October, 1821. Austin gave 
the party specific instructions to ascend the Colorado 
River until they found a suitable place for settle- 
ment, where they were instructed to build cabins 
and to erect the necessary Indian defenses. The 
Lively was never heard from and her fate is not 
known. The day after the departure of the Lively, 
Austin left New Orleans and proceeded by way of 
Natchitoches to Matagorda Bay, where he expected 
to meet his Lively party. At Natchitoches he was 
joined by a number of colonists, chiefly those wlio 
had read the published notices of the beauty, health 
and rich opportunity ofifered in Texas, and some 



The Founders of the Empire 23 

who had accepted Austin's invitation to join the 
colony. 

When Austin and this party reached the mouth 
of the Colorado River, they searched long and well 
for the schooner Lively. In despair they jour- 
neyed to La Bahia crossing (Goliad), where Aus- 
tin happily met his brother, John Brown Austin, 
and they proceeded, with twenty men to San An- 
tonio. 

Since the visit of Moses Austin to Governor 
Martinez, Mexican independence had been declared 
by Iturbide, and the Governor doubted seriously 
whether or not the new government would sanc- 
tion his acts in regard to the colony. He urged 
Austin to avoid all uncertainty by going in person 
to the City of Mexico, lay his plans before the au- 
thorities and secure recognition of his right as a 
colonist. His mind intent upon the success of his 
colony and fearing no hardships or dangers, Austin 
left his colony in charge of Josiah Bell and set out 
upon the journey of more than twelve hundred 
miles, much of the time disguised as a beggar or a 
forlorn soldier, traveling on foot and meeting manv 
hair-breadth escapes, for the hin;hways were alive 
with robbers and murderers. The country through 
which he passed appealed to his sense of the beau- 
tiful and picturesque and though weary in bodv he 
was charmed with the flowers, the fruits, the miles 
of the native maguey plant growing in even, geo- 



24 Texas Hero Stories 

metric rows, the quaint and curious adobe houses 
with here and there a handsome " hacienda " (a 
Mexican country house). In spite of the treach- 
ery and awful crimes which he saw committed 
every day, he was compensated somewhat in the 
absence of all creature comfort and safety by the 
aspect of nature in her gayest holiday attire. Soon 
after the arrival of Austin in the city, the govern- 
ment, which was " torn in many factions," pro- 
claimed Iturbide Emperor. As a consequence there 
was much uncertainty and delay in respect to all 
legal transactions. 

In February, 1823, a new colonization law was 
finally passed and Austin having succeeded in the 
object of his visit was preparing to return to Texas 
when he saw unmistakable signs of another revolu- 
tion, and fearing that the confirmation of his rights 
as a colonist, which he had received with such diffi- 
culty, might all be undone, he determined to delay 
a while to note the changes in the Mexican govern- 
ment. 

" The changes " were rapid ; Congress decreed 
" that the coronation of Iturbide was null and void, 
being an act of violence," and " that all executive 
acts of government from the 19th day of May, 1822, 
to the 28th day of March, 1823, were illegal and sub- 
ject to revision." This proved that Austin was very 
wise in waiting for the end of the revolution. With 
his usual energy he sought " the confirmation of 
his rights as a colonist " from the new government, 



The Founders of the Empire 25 

and on the nth day of April, 1823, Congress re- 
ferred his request to the supreme executive power. 
The executive power, by decree, confirmed in full 
the privileges and powers granted to Austin, and 
a copy of the decree was presented to him, on the 
fourteenth day of April, 1823. 

He had been absent from his colony one year, 
during which time he had obtained a substantial 
knowledge of the language, the laws, the customs 
and the religion of the people and he made friends 
with many of the enlightened men of ^lexico, im- 
pressing them with his straightforwardness and in- 
tegrity. Austin had rare diplomacy and he was a 
statesman in the school of sound common sense. 

On the i8th day of April, 1823, he started for 
home, stopping at Monterey, where the commanding 
general of the eastern internal province, w^hich in- 
cluded Texas, bestowed upon him the rank of lieu- 
tenant colonel. This gave him the power to make 
war against the Indians and he received permission 
to introduce supplies into the colony by way of Gal- 
veston. He was instructed to make report at stated 
times to the Governor of Texas, giving account of 
all important happenings in his colony. 

Baron de Bastrop, his father's friend, accom- 
panied him to Texas and they reached the colony in 
July, 1823. 

The colonists received their beloved leader with 
a joy unto thanksgiving; a few of the settlers had 
become discouraged and returned to their homes in 



^'G Texas Hero Stories 

the United States and some few had found homes 
in other portions of Texas, but the greater number 
had remained faithful and were ready and eager to 
build up their colony. 

The Governor of Texas, Don Luciana Garcia, 
who, like the former Governor, Martinez, seemed 
interested in the affairs of the Texans, named the 
capital of the colony San Felipe de Austin, in honor 
of Austin and of his own patron saint. 

He appointed Austin '' Empresario," which office 
gave him almost unlimited authority ; but Austin 
possessed a keen knowledge of men, a great heart 
and a ready tact, so he ruled with gentleness and 
kindness and though the greatest among them he 
was the helper and the comrade of all. 

Happiness reigned. San Felipe de Austin be- 
came the center of an enthusiastic, thriving com- 
munity. In 1825 Austin secured permission to 
bring five hundred families to increase his colony, 
and after this the people came in large numbers to 
Texas ; they heard of the fine climate, cheap living 
and good discipline, and the new towns of Colum- 
bia, Brazoria, Gonzales, San Augustine and Vic- 
toria became prosperous settlements. 

Not only did Austin exercise wise control over 
his own colony, but he was interested in the welfare 
of all of the Texas people and did what he could to 
direct the general course of colonization. 

In 1827 there occurred what is known as the 
" Fredonian War." A tract of land in Eastern 



The Founders of the Empire 27 

Texas had been granted to Hadyn Edwards, a 
Kentuckian, upon which he had planted a colony. 
He had much annoyance due to the nearness of the 
" neutral ground " where lurked dangers of all 
character, robbers, cut-throats and all doers of law- 
lessness, but the greatest difficulty with which Ed- 
wards had to contend was the uncertainty of his 
claim. The land upon which he was established 
was claimed by the Mexicans, who constantly 
threatened the colonists, and it was also claimed by 
the parties who w^ere living upon it before Edwards 
planted his colony. 

When Edwards was absent in the United States, 
so persistent did the strife become that the Mexican 
government took away the grant and ordered the 
colonists to leave. The colonists appealed to the 
Governor for assistance and being refused, de- 
termined to make Texas an independent Republic, 
calling themselves *' Fredonians " and the Republic 
which they desired to establish '' Fredonia." 

The Cherokee Indians, who were also angry with 
the Mexican government for refusing to grant to 
them a section of land long ago promised, joined 
Edwards and his colonists in a convention, declar- 
ing '' that Fredonia was then and ever should be 
free from Mexico." This convention made a di- 
vision of Texas, giving all land north of a line run- 
ning from Nacogdoches east and west to the Chero- 
kees and all south to the colonists. The Indians 
proved to be unfaithful allies. 



28 Texas Hero Stories 

Nacogdoches was the headquarters for the col- 
onists and the Indians. 

Austin, who reahzed how terrible would be the 
results from resisting the Mexican government, 
pleaded with the colonists to give up their idea of 
rebellion. He sent three of his colonists, as com- 
missioners, to persuade the leaders to abandon their 
Fredonia plan. Though Austin's course was ra- 
tional and right and he could see the folly of such 
action, the Fredonians were determined and per- 
sisted in their head-strong action. 

The Cherokees upon renewed promise of land 
from the Alexican government deserted the Fre- 
donians and joined the ^Mexicans. 

The Mexicans advanced upon Nacogdoches, and 
realizing their weakness, the Fredonians, of fewer 
than two hundred men, were forced to surrender. 

Edwards and some of his men sought homes in 
Louisiana. But for the influence of Austin all the 
Fredonia colony would have gone with Edwards 
and East Texas would have been depopulated. 
With tact Austin interceded with the Mexican au- 
thorities to treat with kindness the colonists who 
remained. 

The colonists at San Felipe de Austin were im- 
proving their homes, erecting churches and build- 
ing up a good citizenship, but in spite of these 
outward evidences of happiness and peace, they 
were frequently reminded that danger was very 
near. Mexico had forbidden by strictest law fur- 



The Founders of the Empire 29 

ther colonization from the United States. The 
taxes on property were so increased that the colon- 
ists could hardly pay them. The Mexican govern- 
ment had taken all arms and means of defense from 
the colonists, thereby leaving them helpless at the 
mercies of the Indians and Mexicans. 

Brutal, insolent Mexican soldiers were placed on 
guard in every community and the colonists who 
resisted their insults were thrown into prison. The 
Texans were outraged and determined to stop such 
tyranny if it cost them their lives. A convention 
was called at San Felipe de Austin in April, 1833. 
(This convention is known as the second conven- 
tion at San Felipe de Austin.) 

Earnestly and defiantly did the Texans review 
the oppression of Mexico. The pitiful, desolate con- 
dition of the men, women and children of the col- 
ony ! And their helplessness ! The delegates, who 
were ready to give their lives for Texas, made 
thoughtful speeches ; the convention was composed 
of brave men, Americans who later filled places of 
honor and trust. David G. Burnet, the first presi- 
dent of the Republic of Texas, was a delegate : 
Sam Houston, soon to be the hero of San Jacinto, 
was a delegate ; Dr. Branch T. Archer, Stephen F. 
Austin and J. B. Miller were delegates. The dele- 
gates voted to send a memorial to the Government 
of Mexico, asking that the unnecessary laws be re- 
pealed, and W. H. Wharton, J. B. Miller and Ste- 
phen F. Austin were selected by the convention to 



30 



Texas Hero Stories 



present the memorial to the National Congress of 
Mexico. 

Nobody knew better than did Austin the dangers, 
greater now than ever before, of a journey to the 
City of Mexico, but his people cried to him for aid 
and they depended upon him. He could not resist 
their appeal, so with full knowledge of the distance 
and the dangers, fearless patriot that he was, he 
made the journey — and he made it alone. 

Farias, the vice president of Mexico, was in con- 
trol of governmental afifairs at the time of Austin's 
arrival in the city, and though Austin tried repeat- 
edly to obtain an interview with him, he was so oc- 
cupied with his own affairs that he had no time for 
Austin and Texas. Such a small matter as a col- 
ony in Texas could not take up his valuable time. 

After the most tantalizing delays, a spell of ill- 
ness and every form of discouragement, through 
the kindness and courtesy of Lorenzo de Zavala, 
who was later the devoted friend to the Texas patri- 
ots, Austin met Farias. He told him in very plain 
words that if Mexico did not repeal her cruel laws 
and cease her outrageous conduct towards Texas 
that Texas would take charge of her own affairs.^ 
He sent a carefully prepared letter to the authori- 
ties in San Antonio, giving an account of this inter- 
view, and stating that in his judgment the Texas 
people would very soon have to prepare for a gov- 
ernment of their own. Upon the receipt of this 
letter the San Antonio authorities declared it an 



The Founders of the Empire 31 

act of treason, and sent it at once to Vice President 
Farias, who became furious at its contents. He 
sent officers to arrest Austin, who had left the city 
on his way to Texas, and place him in prison. 

For four months Austin was guarded in a Mex- 
ican dungeon without lights, books, pen or paper ; 
he was then removed to another prison where he 
was more humanely treated and good Father Mul- 
doon, who upon a former occasion had been kind 
to him, provided him with pen and paper and he 
kept account of the passing of the lonely, monot- 
onous prison days while he thought of his beloved 
colonists and earnestly prayed that he might be 
permitted to save them. 

When Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, who 
had been busy thinking out a scheme by which he 
might make himself dictator, finally resumed his 
official duties, the Texas matter came up for dis- 
cussion. Austin, again aided by our good friend 
De Zavala, went before him and pleaded eloquently 
that the cruel laws might be revoked and especially 
that Texas might be separated from the State of 
Coahuila. The affairs of the State of Coahuila 
were constantly in an unsettled and revolutionary 
condition, and this interfered with the management 
of affairs in Texas. The Texans knew that they 
needed no assistance from Coahuila and they wanted 
to be separate and distinct. 

Santa Anna's ruling was that Texas was not 
strong enough to be a separate State and that he 



32 Texas Hero Stories 

would send soldiers to protect the people. To this 
Austin hitterly objected, saying that Texas could 
protect her own frontier without any assistance 
from Mexico. Santa Anna made the most flattering 
assurances of his love for Texas, his pride in her 
growth and her people, but Austin was still kept 
in prison. 

Santa Anna at last was made dictator of Mexico 
and controlled the National Congress which in turn 
controlled the State Legislatures, and when he 
found that Texas would not bow to his yoke of 
despotism, that she would not for one moment en- 
dure his cruelties, he determined to conquer the 
Texans — and the sooner the better. 

Impaired in health, wearied from the days of 
loneliness and prison darkness and heartsick at the 
treatment of his people, Austin, after an awful two 
years, found his way back to his colony. He rested 
one short month, when, with San Felipe as the cen- 
ter of action, the war began. Austin gave his priv- 
ate means to provide for the equipment of the 
Texas soldiers. The Texans were eager for war. 
At the first fighting, at Gonzales, on the second day 
of October, 1835, the Texans lost not a single man, 
and the Mexicans lost four killed and many 
wounded. 

In spite of his ill health Austin actively entered 
the army service and on the eleventh day of Octo- 
ber, 1835, by unanimous vote he was elected "com- 
mander in chief of the army of the people." 



The Founders of the Empire 



3i 



After ordering a thorough organization and ap- 
pomting his staiif, lie marched to San Antonio the 
great stronghold of the Mexicans, whither Alexi- 
can soldiers had been sent to take the arms away 
from the Texans. 

The capture of Goliad on the ninth dav of Octo- 
ber 1835, was a victory for the Texans and in the 
battle of Concepcion, on the twenty-eighth dav of 
October, the Mexicans under General Cos were suc- 
cessfully besieged in San Antonio. This victory 
made the Texans more and more eager to fight and 
they could not endure inactivity and waiting 

Austin realized the state of mind of the Texans 
their mdignation and their determination to win ' 
he further knew that the discipline of the Texas' 
army depended upon his own judgment, tact and 
the love which his soldiers bore him, together with 
their natural sense and undoubted patriotism He 
saw plainly that a well organized government was 
an absolute necessity, that without it discipline could 
not be maintained and the best interests of the peo- 
ple preserved. 

A great deal had been said in regard to a pro- 
v.s,onaI government and many of the citizens fa- ■ 
voted It; now Austin urged its formation upon all 
those who were soldiers in the army of Texas and 
those who remained at home. He arranged that a 
general meeting or " consultation " should be held 
winch should consider all matters great and small,' 
wh.ch affected the welfare of the people and future 



34 Texas Hero Stories 

action was to be determined upon. This '* consul- 
tation," called at San Felipe on the third day of 
November, 1835, for the purpose of organizing a 
provisional government, resulted in the election of 
Dr. Branch T. Archer, president. Dr. Archer, Wil- 
liam H. Wharton and Stephen F. Austin were ap- 
pointed commissioners to the United States to se- 
cure aid and supplies. 

The provisional government, having reached a 
state of complete organization, appointed Henry 
Smith Governor and J. W. Robinson Lieutenant 
Governor. Sam Houston was made commander in 
chief of the army and was empowered to command 
other troops which might be raised. 

In order that he might obey the call of the gov- 
ernment to go to the United States Austin withdrew 
from the army. Before his departure he impressed 
upon the soldiers the importance of continuing the 
siege upon San Antonio and emphasized the neces- 
sity of new organization. 

The Adjutant General w^as instructed to " call 
upon the troops to volunteer to remain before San 
Antonio and to organize at once for the purpose." 

Four hundred and five pledged themselves to re- 
main and the election of a commander for the troops 
at San Antonio resulted in the election of Edward 
Burleson ; only those pledged to remain were al- 
lowed to vote. 

The commissioners upon their departure for the 
United States were instructed to " approach the 



The Founders of the Empire 35 

government in regard to the independence or an- 
nexation of Texas, and to procure men, arms, am- 
munition and all necessary supplies." They were 
successful to an extent beyond their fondest hopes. 
In New Orleans two loans were contracted, amount- 
ing to $250,000. Austin pledged his private for- 
tune to effect these loans. 

In an eloquent address delivered at Louisville, 
Ky., Austin presented the condition of Texas, her 
claims, her rights, her opportunities ; and gained 
from those who heard both sympathy and assist- 
ance. He asked and received assistance at New 
York, Cincinnati, Nashville and Mobile. 

Before leaving Washington for home, in a letter 
to General Houston, written on the twenty-fourth 
day of May, 1836, Austin wrote: "I am of the 
opinion that our independence will be acknowledged 
and that Texas will be admitted into the United 
States, if properly asked for." 

San Jacinto now won, the Mexicans conquered, 
and Texas free from tyranny and despotic rule, 
the attention of the citizens w^as turned to the culti- 
vation of the land for which they had so valiantly 
fought. 

Austin was correct in his foresight ; Texas inde- 
pendence was acknowledged and Texas was later 
admitted into the Union. 

When the time came for the election of the pres- 
ident, Austin was mentioned, because of his great 
worthiness and enormous service to Texas, but it 



36 Texas Hero Stories 

was evident that the soldiers who had fought with 
General Houston, and who so desired to honor 
him, favored his election to the highest office. He 
was unanimously proclaimed president at Columbia, 
on the Brazos, which was then the capital. 

When the government was organized, Austin ac- 
cepted the office of Secretary of State in President 
Houston's Cabinet. He continued to work for 
Texas with his accustomed zeal until he was seized 
with an attack of pneumonia, from which he died 
on the twenty-seventh day of December, 1836, aged 
forty-three years. The remains of the '* Father of 
Texas," accompanied by all the officers of the gov- 
ernment, were carried to Peach Point, Brazoria 
County, where, with due ceremony, they were laid 
to rest. His death was mourned by every man, 
woman and child in Texas. 

The State of Texas has erected, in Statuary Hall 
in our National Capitol at Washington, also in our 
State Capitol at Austin, a statue of Stephen F. Aus- 
tin, which exquisite work was executed by Elisabet 
Ney, the Texas sculptor. Our proud Capital City, 
set upon her circle of hills, named in his honor and 
rapidly becoming more and more beautiful from the 
plastic hand of art and the tireless hand of industry, 
is a living memorial to his genius and strength. 

As this State, which he founded, is destined to 
grow in prosperity and influence, even unto the 
heights of excellence and glory, so will his name 
and fame grow brighter as time leaps on to eternity. 



On the Trail With a Bear Hunter 37 



ON THE TRAIL WITH A BEAR HUNTER 

" Be sure you are right, then go ahead," is the 
best loved of the schoolboy's mottoes, and it was 
this httle phrase by which David Crockett lived and 
by which he died. He was never afraid to be right, 
however difficuh the result or whatever it may have 
cost. He was never afraid to " go ahead," far 
ahead, and he succeeded. Men usually do when 
they persist in the right. 

It is the western character, that peculiar type of 
American manhood, which exhibits the very rapid 
passing from one distinct scene of life to another, 
and that passing with perfect ease, naturally, with 
no delay or hesitation. 

The story of David Crockett is, first, the story 
of a bear hunter in the wilds of the forests of East 
and Middle Tennessee in the early days of the 
nineteenth century. He was a hunter who scorned 
the cold wind, the ice and the sleet; who loved 
the days and nights in the canebrake, the hollow 
tree or on the trail. To him a bearskin was a tro- 
phy and he thought nothing of returning from a 
day's hunt with a half dozen. 

The stories of hunting in India are full of peril 
and dangerous encounters, but they are as nothing 



38 Texas Hero Stories 

compared to the conditions which David Crockett 
met in hazard and adventure. 

His amusement and the relief for his concentrated 
energies was in bear hunting and he hunted bears 
with the earnestness which characterized every- 
thing else that he did, entering into the bear hunt 
determined to kill the bear, and this spirit of de- 
termination marked every effort of his life. 

The story of David Crockett is the story of an 
Indian fighter, persistent, courageous, not afraid of 
any band of Indians, however large or however sav- 
age ; faithful to his leader, absolutely trustworthy, 
and the friend of every man in his command. He 
was equal to long journeys, the care of the wounded 
and dying, as well as the firing in the front line at 
the Indians who seemed to hide behind every tree. 

Many a woman's and many a child's life did 
David Crockett save when the Indians were ready 
to lift their scalps. 

His is the story of a pioneer of the type of such 
men as Daniel Boone. He prepared the way for 
others ; with a strong heart and tireless hands he 
laid the foundation for a great commonwealth. 
The men and women w^ith whom he was associated 
were poor and unlettered. Rude, as a rule, they 
knew nothing of refined manners, comely bearing, 
or good homes, and they had little time or inclina- 
tion for these. They were strong, plain, many of 
them great-hearted, level-headed, and their hands 
were scarred and hard with honest labor. 



On the Trail With a Bear Hunter 39 

As a pioneer, David Crockett was wild, even 
fierce, and so strong in will that when he once made 
up his mind to do a thing, or to act upon a convic- 
tion, the organized world could not change him. 
He couldn't be scared into anything. He lived in 
a wild, rough time, when the country called for 
men of iron wnll, strong nerve and glowing patriot- 
ism. He was full of that mysterious omnipotent 
something which we call " presence." Naturally 
he was a leader and had little trouble in securing 
followers. Brimming over with fun and action, 
making the most of all awkward conditions and 
alive to everything, he was a part of the forest and 
frontier life, and there have been few men of more 
athletic strength or physical endurance. In his 
composition laziness was an unknown quantity. 

The story of David Crockett is the story of an 
early American politician. As a member of the 
legislature, his example is a strong one in favor of 
perseverance when everything seems against him, 
and of not seeking glory, as glory is sure to follow 
successful effort. Just how much may be accom- 
plished by industry is pretty well shown by David 
Crockett's political growth and rapid advance- 
ment. 

His wisdom was not learned from books. His 
hold upon the people was due to his understanding 
of the people and his superb interpretation of hu- 
man character. As a successful or as a defeated 
candidate, he is the same rugged, picturesque na- 



40 Texas Hero Stories 

ture, not embittered by defeat or inflated with suc- 
cess. 

A speech from an educated orator, speaking upon 
the ethics of the law and the needs of the people, 
could not compare with his stump speeches in point 
of securing votes, and during his career in congress 
he gained the respect and friendship of the great- 
est statesmen of his time. 

And, last, the story of David Crockett is the 
story of a man who was willing and who knew how 
to die for the right; a loyal, devoted Texan, one 
of the few who won immortal renown fighting for 
the independence of Texas ; one whose name should 
be among the first which Texas mothers should 
teach their children to lisp, for he was worthy of 
the honor and loving remembrance of every Texan. 
Nothing in his life was more sublime than the end- 
ing of it. 

David, son of John and Rebecca Hawkins Crock- 
ett, was born in Green county, Tennessee, on the 
seventeenth day of August, 1786. John Crockett, 
of Irish descent, was a farmer, living for some 
vears in the State of Pennsylvania. He was a sol- 
dier in the American revolution and fought at the 
battle of King's Mountain and other battles during 
the campaigns in the South. After the close of the 
war he lived for a time in North Carolina, from 
which state he removed to that part of the country 
called Tennessee, which was not then a state. Re- 



On the Trail With a Bear Hunter 41 

becca Crockett was born in Maryland. David's 
grandparents were murdered in their own home by 
the Creek Indians, and others of the family were 
killed or taken prisoners. Many of the early im- 
migrants to Tennessee suffered the same fate at 
the hands of the Indians, w^hose savagery and aw- 
ful depredations kept back for years the tide of im- 
migration. 

The Crocketts w^ere poor and lived far into the 
backwoods, having no opportunity to give advan- 
tages of any kind to their six sons and three 
daughters. 

David was the fifth son, coming along near the 
'' middle " of the family, so he did not have the 
leadership usually accorded to the oldest son, the 
good luck of the seventh son or the petted care and 
protection always given, by common consent, to the 
youngest. 

It was hard to make a living in the new, wild 
country and the time which should have been em- 
ployed in cultivating the land and hewing the great 
trees was taken up in using necessary precaution 
against the cunning Indians. David's early years 
were spent in the heart of the woods, on the Indian 
trails, and going into every part of the country ac- 
cessible to an active, healthy boy. 

It w^as during these days of wandering that he 
developed his passion for hunting. As a little boy 
he would spend days, nights, often weeks in the 



42 Texas Hero Stories 

woods, and he was a successful hunter, bringing 
home, as a welcome addition to the family larder, 
bear, deer and small game. 

He knew the nature and habits of the game he 
sought and it would seem that this child of the for- 
est partook somewhat of the nature of his animal 
friends, who lived in the wilds, for he was a rover, 
wandering with his gun and dog whither his rest- 
less heart might lead. 

He was not curbed in these tastes by his father. 
On the contrary he seems to have been encouraged. 
The senior Crockett, always hardpressed and little 
dreaming that his boy David was born for other 
things than a life of day labor, put him to work 
with a Dutchman who was leaving Tennessee for 
Rockbridge county, \'irginia. 

David traveled the greater part of the journey, 
which was more than 400 miles, on foot, won the 
confidence of his master and served him well. But, 
wild boy that he was, he was attached to his moun- 
tain home and the first sight of wagoners going 
in the Tennessee direction convinced him that his 
homesickness was genuine. He listened to the call 
of the wild, and joyfully returned with them. 

His school days began with a fight and an exile 
from home. After the fourth day of school, being 
'' sure he was rigiht," he went ahead to mercilesslv 
whip a boy older and larger than himself, and, in 
order to avoid the flogging of the school master and 
probably one from his father, he ran away. When 



On the Trail With a Bear Hunter 43 

sufficient time had elapsed to remove all anxiety 
concerning the school incident and his father's an- 
ger, David returned home to receive an enthusiastic 
welcome from his brothers and sisters and the bless- 
ing of his parents who thought he was dead. 

His was a yielding heart, and though a brave 
man, apparently proof against the Indians' arrows, 
like many another brave man he was weak in the 
presence of a beautiful woman. Time and time 
again he fell in love with some pretty mountain girl, 
but his suit was always rejected. Upon being re- 
fused by one girl who was, so far as her surround- 
ings would permit, an educated woman, he made 
the resolution upon which much of his later success 
depended. He decided that his misfortunes grew 
out of the fact that he was uncouth and uneducated. 
He saw the way and he started to school, working 
two days of the w^eek to pay the tuition for the 
other three, and in six months he had learned to 
read, spell and " cipher some." This is all the 
schooling that David Crockett ever received. 

Persistency won, and he finally married a 
sprightly Irish girl, after a precarious courtship, 
but he was right this time and went ahead and his- 
tory and tradition record that they lived happily. 

The terrible massacre by the Creek Indians at 
Fort ]Mimms, in August, 181 3, caused Crockett to 
take up arms against the Indians, so he enlisted 
with the Tennesseeans and served as a scout under 
General Jackson. He distinguished himself for 



44 Texas Hero Stories 

fearlessness, even boldness, and was greatly beloved 
by his fellow soldiers. His life in the woods had 
made him familiar with the haunts of the cunning, 
wily Creeks, and not only was he the best hunter 
in camp, he was the best forager, and this made him 
necessary to the comfort of the soldiers. 

The Indians fought with bows and arrows, clubs, 
guns, and with their long, sharp knives scalped 
every white man in reach and dozens of scalps 
hung from every Indian's belt. Crockett had many 
narrow escapes. Sometimes by his accurate firing, 
sometimes by his wit, sometimes by his under- 
standing of the Indian nature and characteristics 
but oftener by his broad humanity, he was pre- 
served. 

When the Indian hostilities stopped and the battle 
of New Orleans had been fought, Crockett returned 
to his home to begin that part of his life devoted to 
the peaceful interests of his country. He soon be- 
came a magistrate and later was elected to the na- 
tional congress. 

The death of his young wife, at the close of his 
military service, was a great sorrow to him. She 
left three children and in them he found comfort 
and later was happily married the second time. 

He was appointed magistrate in 1821, and when 
the legislature added the settlement in which he 
lived to the white settlements in Giles county, he 
was appointed '' squire " by the law. Nothing short 
of the native wit of David Crockett could have saved 



On the Trail With a Bear Hunter 45 

him, for warrants and notices were required in 
writing and he barely knew how to write his name. 
He told his constable that whenever a warrant was 
required not to trouble to return to the office, but 
to " just write it out." When the warrants were 
returned, David studied them carefully until he 
learned to write one for himself. He permitted no 
man to find out what he did not know. His de- 
cisions were based upon common sense and justice 
from man to man. He relied upon his own com- 
mon sense and the common sense of others. He 
was not guided by a knowdedge of written law, for 
at this time he had never seen a law book. 

During his race for the legislature, when his op- 
ponents, experienced lawyers and politicians, con- 
sumed the entire time in speech-making, ignoring 
the back-woodsman, he listened attentively and 
learned much of the political situations, both state 
and national. When they had finished speaking 
Crockett would mount the stump, tell a good story 
and secure the votes of the auditors, who were fa- 
tigued by the learned speeches. During his serv- 
ice in the legislature he had the usual opportunities 
to sell his honor, to forsake principle for party and 
to be the mouth-piece for dishonest schemers and 
promoters, but David Crockett followed the course 
which marked his life, that of coolness, determina- 
tion and being sure of the rijht before going ahead. 

Though defeated the first time he ran for con- 
gress, his record was so clean and his honesty so 



46 Texas Hero Stories 

apparent that those who were opponents became his 
friends, and he was next time elected and then re- 
elected. 

Cautious, saying little, placing the stamp of his 
individuality upon everything that he did, his 
friends believed him to be right in everything that 
he advocated. He was irrepressible with frolic, 
jest and laughter; his very name carried with it 
geniality and fellowship, at the same time nerve and 
enormous determination. Unique and individual, 
loved and loving, his course in congress was marked 
by the most original electioneering ever employed 
by an American candidate. 

He heartily and honestly opposed the policies of 
General Jackson. His friends tried to dissuade 
him from this, as Jackson was strong with the peo- 
ple, and when Crockett's opponents spread the re- 
port that he opposed Jackson's Indian bill, he was 
defeated for congress, though elected the next time, 
after a hard-fought and close contest. It was dur- 
ing this session of congress, in 1834, that he made a 
tour through the East. At Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
New York and Boston he was toasted, entertained 
and great appreciation was shown for his rugged 
manhood and excellent service to his country. The 
young Whigs of Philadelphia presented him with 
the famous rifle, Betsy, which was his companion 
upon so many bear hunts and his means of defense 
in a cause so dear to us. 

The most characteristic incident of this eventful 



On the Trail With a Bear Hunter 47 

tour was Crockett's refusal to visit Harvard uni- 
versity for fear a degree would be conferred upon 
him. He liked the title, " member of congress," 
and cared not for " ready-made " honors. He was 
content wnth what little " learning " he had and 
called the university a '' branding school." He 
probably feared the view his constituents might take 
of it. 

These new scenes and new environments were 
very helpful to him, and though he was unaccus- 
tomed to the mode of life, he rapidly became a 
part of it and his frankness and genial manner made 
friends for him by the score. 

When he was defeated at the next election it was 
a great disappointment to him, for he had developed 
a taste for public life and his tour through the East 
had increased his desire to remain before the people. 
It requires a defeat sometimes to accomplish the 
greatest results. Had David Crockett been again 
elected to congress he could not have shared the 
greater glory of fighting for Texan independence. 
His name and career would not have been an inher- 
itance for every boy and girl in this commonwealth. 
It is those people who sometime fail who really 
accomplish most, for the man w^ho never fails is the 
man w^ho never attempts. 

Defeated at home in his political ambition, David 
Crockett naturally sought other fields of usefulness. 
He solemnly resolved to cast his lot with the Tex- 
ans, to fight with them for their independence and 



48 Texas Hero Stories 

what, he loved best on earth — Hberty. He prob- 
ably expected to return to Tennessee when other 
officers had gained control of the government, but 
he was irresistibly drawn to the struggling, perse- 
cuted men who were fighting for Texas, so, being 
sure he was right, he started to Texas and the last 
of the story belongs to Texans of to-day as well as 
to Texans of yesterday ; for while valor is praised 
in song and story, while men admire those qual- 
ities of heart and mind which glorify the pages 
of history, sacred or profane, the plain tale of this 
plain,, yet remarkable, man will remain an inspira- 
tion tO' countless generations yet unborn. 

His resolution to assist the Texans became 
stronger as he advanced upon his journey, and all 
along the way he sought information in regard to 
the progress of the war and the welfare of the 
Texans. He tried to influence others to go with 
him to fight for freedom, but he secured few re- 
cruits. 

Once in a while on the journey he was induced 
to make a speech and he took occasion to ridicule 
the politics of General Jackson without mercy. It 
seemed to be the order of political speaking of his 
time to be severe and abusive. 

At Nachitoches, La., a town on the Red river, 
he persuaded a traveler to accompany him to Texas, 
and a little later he found another and they then 
started for Nacogdoches, Texas, situated about sixty 
miles west of the Sabine river, and the capital of 



On the Trail With a Bear Hunter 



49 



the department of that name. In Nacogdoches the 
French had estabhshed a fort in 1717, in order to 
control the Indians who wandered between the 
French possessions and those of the English col- 
onists.- Here Crockett gained definite information 
of the movements of the Texans and their great dis- 
tress and he rejoiced that he had resolved to fight 
with them. 

The journey over the broad, beautiful and lone- 
some prairies of Texas was alive with interest to 
Crockett. He found plenty of game, chased a herd 
of bufifalo, had a mad, wild race with a drove of 
mustangs, killed a number of wolves, a cougar, or 
Mexican lion, and met a band of Comanche Indians 
with whom he made friends, and for some distance 
they acted as a valuable guide on his journev. 

His love for dangerous situations and adventure 
was gratified on every hand, and he was willing to 
meet the results of his boldness and rashness. He 
and his two companions put to flight a number of 
armed Mexicans, for the man whom Indians and 
lions could not dismay was ready to meet the riders 
in the big sombreros. Each day of the long ride 
from Nacogdoches to the town of Bexar, on the 
San Antonio river, where was situated the fortress 
Alamo, brought its own interesting events. 

These were happy days to David Crockett, who 
was fascinated with the new country and was 
spurred on and on with the desire to assist those 
Americans who were determined to save themselves 
from Mexican servitude. 



A Fight Within a Convent Wall 51 



A FIGHT WITHIN A CONVENT WALL 

At the time David Crockett reached the town of 
Bexar, which is the San Antonio of to-day, its in- 
habitants consisted of about 1,200 Mexicans, a few 
American families and a garrison of soldiers. It 
was as early as 1718 that a military post was estab- 
lished at Bexar by the Spaniards, and in 1721 the 
little town was settled by immigrants from the Ca- 
nary Islands by order of the king of Spain. 

Lentil 1812 the town grew and prospered, but 
after that the citizens were so harassed by the In- 
dians and such suffering and loss of property was 
caused by their depredations that the prosperity of 
the town was destroyed. 

San Antonio was captured from the Mexicans 
by General Burleson on the ninth day of December, 
1835, after a struggle of five days and nights, dur- 
ing which siege he lost only four men, but one of 
these was the grand old soldier, Colonel Ben Milam. 

The Mexicans, who had built strong fortifications, 
were driven by the Texans from street to street 
and from house to house until the Mexican com- 
mander. General Cos, who was a brother-in-law of 
Santa Anna, president of Mexico, retreated to the 
fortress Alamo, just without the town on the east 
side of the river, and raised a white flag. 



52 Texas Hero Stories 

The Alamo, as were all Spanish missions, was 
both church and fortress and included the main 
chapel, hospital, convent, convent garden, barracks 
and prison. The powder was stored away in the 
sacristy of the church. The mission Alamo was be- 
gua in 1703 on the Rio Grande, moved to San 
Antonio in 17 18 and in 1744 it was built where its 
ruins now stand. 

The flag was raised and terms of capitulation of- 
fered. These articles of capitulation, being satis- 
factory, were accepted by the Texans, who marched 
into the town, raised their flag and took possession 
of the fort. 

When David Crockett arrived at the Alamo, early 
in February, 1836, he found Colonel William B. 
Travis in command ; and though there were barely 
150 men, they were animated with the spirit of 
liberty, determined to live and worship God accord- 
ing to their own ideas and they were willing to fol- 
low their leader, even unto death. 

Colonel Bowie of Louisiana was second in com- 
mand. He was a most interesting character, whose 
life had been marked by danger and adventure. 
He gave Crockett a warm welcome, and a friend- 
ship immediately sprang up between the two, for 
they had much in common. Crockett looked with 
wonder at the long, broad knife which Colonel 
Bowie used, which was called then, and is known 
to this day as the bowie knife. 

Colonel James Bonham of North Carolina was 



A Fight Within a Convent Wall 53 

another of the defenders. These men watched by 
day and by night for the movements of the unre- 
liable Santa Anna, whom even the Indians hated, 
and they were ready with their clubs and toma- 
hawks to fight him. 

Finding they would be completely surrounded if 
they remained in the town, caught in a veritable 
death trap, the little band of Texans held a council 
of war and decided to go at once to the fort, whither 
they had sent their supplies. They swore to de- 
fend this fort to the last minute of their lives. 

As they entered the fort and raised their flag, 
the old walls echoed with songs and cheers, their 
strong voices accompanied by the drum and fife, 
gave no evidence of fear or misgiving. With 
laughter, high spirits and heroic confidence they 
took their places behind the guns at the embrasures 
in the walls of the church, keeping a vigilant eye 
upon the approach of the ^Mexicans. 

On the twenty-second day of February, Santa 
Anna in person arrived. Without delay he sent a 
messenger to Colonel Travis, demanding immediate 
surrender. To this message Travis replied, '' No " 
by the boom of a cannon. 

The red flag of the ^Mexicans then went up on the 
tower of San Fernando church at Bexar, which sig- 
nified '' No quarter," and the attack of the Mexi- 
cans began, systematically, slowly, deliberately, end- 
ing only on the eleventh day of the siege of the 
fort. A reinforcement of thirtv-two men came to 



54 Texas Hero Stories 

the Texans from, Gonzales and Colonel Fannin at 
Goliad was notified of the desperate condition in 
the fort, and he sent word that he would come im- 
mediately with assistance. 

Bowie never ceased to watch, ready with his 
knife and gun, though he was confined to his cot, 
ill from over-anxiety and exposure. 

On the 27th ten bombs were thrown into the 
convent yard, doing little damage, and that even- 
ing the scouts returned, reporting that slaughter for 
miles around was indiscriminate. Men, women and 
children alike were butchered. 

The enemy increased daily in numbers, and were 
coming from all directions, soon to surround the 
fort. This, together with the fact that the brave 
Bowie grew worse each day, was enough to dis- 
hearten the Texans, but they remained confident, 
their courage never failing, and from the windows 
in the fort rifle balls spat defiance at the Mexicans. 

On the second day of March the declaration of 
Texan independence was framed at the town of 
Washington, and no man in Texas entered more 
into the spirit of this almighty idea, so powerful and 
extensive, than did David Crockett. 

Colonel Travis said he would hold the fort until 
he received relief or he would perish in the attempt, 
but he could not realize the desperate condition of 
the garrison. The Texans gave up all hope of re- 
ceiving assistance from Refugio or Goliad, and on 
the fourth day of March Colonel Travis, brave soul 



A Fight Within a Convent Wall 55 

that he was, told his men that " in case the enemy 
should carry the fort, to fight to the last gasp and 
render their victory even more serious to them than 
to us." He gave his men permission to leave if 
they wished, and then drew a line on the ground 
with his sword, saying : " All who are ready to die 
a hero, come across to me." All save one man, wdio 
escaped over the wall, promptly, silently, crossed 
the line beyond which lay death. Even the sick 
Bowie demanded to be carried across on his cot. 

The Mexican troops had increased until they 
numbered between five and six thousand men. 
They surroimded and laid siege upon the Alamo at 
dawn Sunday, the sixth day of March, 1836. They 
brought ladders, axes and crowbars with which to 
climb upon and batter the walls. 

The Texans, with pistols, knives and rifles, 
fought fearlessly and furiously, killing hundreds 
of the Mexicans. The battle raged with fire and 
blood until daybreak, and it was in the chapel of 
the fort that the conflict ended. Piled high w^ere 
the dead and dying ^Mexicans, bloody and powder- 
stained. 

With their knives buried deep in the throats of 
the Mexicans, guns in hand, lay the Texas soldiers ; 
it was a hand-to-hand fight at the last and the foes 
died face to face. General Castrillon, a Mexican 
officer, was not a coward, and he had noted the 
fearlessness of the Texans, hoping that Santa Anna 
w^ould cease his butcherv ; but the President of 



56 Texas Hero Stories 

Mexico in a fury never stopped imtil each Texan 
was a martyr. 

The Mexicans swarmed about the dead patriots, 
leaped upon them, pulled them into the mire and 
dirt, kicked and trod upon them, burying their 
bayonets deep into the faithful hearts. 

The light of the morning filled the chapel and 
convent yard, but it was the light of the Eternal 
morning which now brightly lighted the way for 
those who w^ere a self-sacrifice absolute. Bowie, 
lying in bed, had discharged his gun and used his 
knife. The Mexicans dared not approach him, but 
shot him from behind the wall. As he was dying 
he plunged his knife into the heart of one of the 
Mexican murderers. Gallant young Travis fell 
from the rampart into the fort, wounded mortally. 
As he fell a Mexican officer tried to cut ofif his head, 
but Travis cjuickly drew his sword and both per- 
ished. 

Every defender was killed. One hundred and 
eighty-two men fighting more than five thou- 
sand ! 

After the battle General Cos, who had com- 
manded the fort when it was in the hands of the 
Mexicans, mutilated the body and head of Colonel 
Travis with the brutality of a fiend, then waved his 
tyrant's sword over the poor mangled remains of 
the hero of the Alamo. 

Mrs. Dickinson and the negro servant of Colonel 
Travis were the only lives spared. The bodies of 



A Fight Within a Convent Wall 57 

the defenders of the Alamo were thrown into the 
chapel and barned. In the immediate siege the 
Mexicans lost about 800 men, though from the time 
of the first assault, their loss was more than 1,500 
killed and wounded. The Texans in the fort had 
five or six guns to each man, and this, with their 
indomitable courage and patriotism, accounts for so 
immense a slaughter by so small a number. 

Santa Anna sent a Mexican ofhcer with Mrs. 
Dickinson and the servant to General Houston, of- 
fering " peace and general amnesty if they would 
lay down their arms and submit to his govern- 
ment," to which General Houston replied : " You 
have killed some of our brave men, but the Texans 
are not yet conquered." He also sent a copy of the 
Declaration of Independence agreed upon at Wash- 
ington on the second day of March, 1836. 

By the lifeless body of David Crockett were found 
his coonskin hunting cap, his powder horn and the 
remains of the faithful Betsy. He wore the fringed 
hunting coat, worn on many a deer hunt, and 
through rain, wind and snow on the long journey to 
Texas. 

The defenders of the Alamo were as brave men 
as ever came into the world. Completely in ear- 
nest, loving the right with their fiery hearts, giving 
their last drop of blood in its defense, they passed 
to the immortals, patriots of heroic mould, who had 
served with fidelity their fellow men and were ready 
to answer to God in eternitv for their use of time. 



mm 

m 

1 


^^^^^mUSmM, V 




S'^\ 







Sam Houston. 



Measuring Deer Tracks 59 



MEASURING DEER TRACKS 

While the name of Texas lives the name of 
Houston will live, for her fame is his fame. Raised 
to a supreme command at a supreme moment, he 
was entrusted with the destiny of a people. 

There is such a thing on earth as a " special prov- 
idence " and the interference of divine power in 
men's affairs. Providence employs certain agents 
to perform certain duties which fulfill the law and 
complete His plan. 

Sam Houston, one of the most remarkable char- 
acters in the annals of /\nglo-Saxon civilization, 
was a liberator, a preserver of the most valued pos- 
session of man, and as a great leader of soldiers 
intent upon a sacred purpose, he was an inspiration. 
He led his people from the very jaws of death in 
a battle little less than a miracle to unquestioned 
victory. 

It is difficult to place a correct estimate upon 
Houston's character. He was among the greatest 
men of any age, and did completely the work which 
God appointed him to do. The most brilliant page 
in our Texas history contains the record of the pa- 
triotic service of Sam Houston. Profound patriot 
and statesman, he was in that a plain, honest 



6o Texas Hero Stories 

manly citizen, who believed simply and earnestly in 
his country and her institutions, and he had faith 
in his own people. 

A hundred years from now there will be no ro- 
mance, story or epic-poem that will afiford a more 
beautiful subject than the character, mould of life 
and accomplished efforts of this great Texan. 
His erratic boyhood, his years of uncivilized life 
among the Indians and his peculiar charm and 
power with them ; his tender love for his mother 
and remembrance of her, at the same time, a love 
for freedom and wandering and to be near Nature's 
heart ; his life and hardships as a soldier and as a 
hero, his contests in the halls of State with men of 
opinions, enmities, frailties and human passion, all 
combine in a wondrous story, thrilling, daring — 
and true. The crucible through which the gold of 
his character was separated from the dross was an 
ordeal which fitted him and placed him as an agent 
of Divine Providence. 

Sam Houston was born at Timber Ridge Church, 
seven miles east of Lexington, Rockbridge County, 
Virginia, on the second day of March, 1793. The 
Houston family, on both sides, was of Scotch origin. 
They were all refugees in the north of Ireland un- 
til after the siege of Kery, in which they took part, 
when they emigrated to the State of Pennsylvania. 

His father was a soldier in the American Revolu- 
tion and held various military offices up to the time 
of his death in 1807. His mother was attractive in 



Measuring Deer Tracks 6i 

person, manner and mind, and her influence was 
seen in many of her son's characteristics. She had 
much influence over him and could understand him 
as few others could. She could see underneath the 
daring, brusque, independent exterior and was the 
first to discover the wonderful gifts of heart and 
brain which later so endeared her son to his coun- 
trymen. 

Self-reliance developed early in Sam Houston 
and to such extremes did he go in the practice of 
depending entirely upon himself, asking no advice 
or guidance from any source, that older heads 
prophesied that he would have " a very dangerous 
future and no such wilful boy could come to a good 
end." But their prediction in no sense seemed to 
worry young Sam, and when his mother was left a 
widow with six sons and three daughters and had 
to sell the old home and move many miles away, 
Sam Houston became familiar with the hardest 
work. 

The new home was about eight miles from the 
Tennessee river, which was then the boundary line 
between the • white people's territory and that of 
the Cherokee Indians. 

There floui-ished in East Tennessee a good school 
called an academy, where Sam Houston asked the 
master to permit him to study Latin and the short- 
sighted schoolmaster refused. Indignant at the 
refusal, young Houston turned from his presence 
and solemnly declared that " he would never recite 



62 Texas Hero Stories 

another lesson while he lived." And he was usually 
true to his word. But he did not declare that he 
would never study again while he lived, for he loved 
to read and to study, and as good books fell into 
his hands he made the most of such opportunity and 
read and memorized a large portion of a translation 
of one of the greatest of the world's classics, Hom- 
er's Iliad. This wonderful story gave him his first 
knowledge of the people who lived in ancient times 
and it filled his heart with a desire to be a soldier. 
He referred often to this old book, and when he 
would go upon a long journey he carried it with 
him and often slept with it under his pillow. His 
older brothers had never read this great book and 
could not understand what joy it brought to their 
young brother's heart, and thinking he was lazy 
and did not want to work, or foolish and sentimen- 
tal, they put him to work in a country store. 

The boy who loved the life and brave adventure 
of the hero of the Iliad could not content himself 
in a little country store selling tape, pins and needles, 
so he ran away, across the Tennessee river, to the 
Cherokee Indians, saying that he would " rather 
measure deer tracks than tape." And this decision 
to go to the Indians influenced every day of his life 
which followed. 

He did not forget his mother, whom he. loved 
verv much, and once in a while he would go home 
to see her and she would mend his clothes and have 
long talks with him, and the two, because they un- 



Measuring Deer Tracks 63 

derstood each other, loved each other very much. 
This wild life among uncivilized men and these 
wholesome lessons in the school of nature prepared 
him for his career as a soldier, a diplomat and a 
henefactor to his country and race. 

He studied the character of the savage, his grati- 
tude, his revenge, his strange notice and remem- 
brance of small favors, his great love and his in- 
tense hate, and so perfectly did he hold sway in the 
savage heart that years afterwards, when Houston 
became President of the Republic of Texas, not one 
Indian tribe ever violated a treaty. He mastered 
their language, learned their customs, w^ore their 
dress, adopted their habits and lived as one of them. 

In order to pay some debts which he had made 
before going to the Indians, he returned to his 
home, sought and obtained a school and taught it 
successfully. He studied geometry for a little 
while, but soon gave it up, not caring for so prac- 
tical and " unpoetic " a study. 

In 1813, when the United States w^as at war with 
England, Sam Houston, then only 19 years of age, 
enlisted at Maryville, Tenn., a common soldier in the 
United States army. His mother, realizing that 
it w^as his great desire to be a soldier, encouraged 
and helped him all she could, and told him to " make 
his country proud of him." He was soon made 
Sergeant, then Ensign and considered the best 
drilled officer in the company. 

In the remarkable battle of Tohopeka, or " Horse- 



64 Texas Hero Stories 

shoe Bend," under the command of Gen. Andrew 
Jackson, Houston received a wound from which he 
suffered, at short intervals, up to the time of his 
death, a period of fifty years. This battle was one 
of the hardest and fiercest contests between white 
men and Indians on record ; it was bloody, fierce, 
savage warfare, and by his cool, heroic conduct in 
each phase of the battle, Sam Houston won the life- 
long admiration of the great Jackson, who in after 
years lost no opportunity to praise him and to give 
other great men the opportunity to know him. 

In a letter from General Jackson to President 
Thomas Jefferson, written in 1823 from the Jackson 
home, " The Hermitage," near Nashville, Tenn., 
Jackson says : *' I entertain for Houston the high- 
est feeling of regard and confidence — he has at- 
tained his high standing without the intrinsic advan- 
tages of fortune or education and has sustained in 
his various promotions from the common soldier to 
Major General, the character of the high-minded 
and honorable man." 

So severe was the Tohopeka wound that the 
voung Ensign was compelled to withdraw from 
active service. At the close of the war he was ap- 
pointed Lieutenant of the first regiment of infantry 
and placed at New Orleans, where his troublesome 
and dangerous wound was treated. He endured 
suffering from the painful treatment which only a 
constitution, nerve and will of the strongest mould 
could have endured. 



Measuring Deer Tracks 65 

In April, 18 16. he visited New York and Wash- 
ington City, and in January, 18 17, he was caUed 
for duty to the Adjutant's office at Nashville, Tenn. 
For a few months he served in this office, when he 
was appointed under-agent among the Cherokee In- 
dians to carry out the treaty that had just been 
made with the Cherokee Nation. During the time 
he held this office he was accused of " having pre- 
vented African negroes from being smuggled into 
the Western States from Florida." Florida at that 
time was a province of Spain. He proved that he 
had acted in accord with the law in every respect, 
and he went with a delegation of Indians to W ash- 
ington, and appearing before President Monroe and 
Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, made a splendid 
exhibit of what he had done and w^hat he believed 
to be right, which thoroughly vindicated him. 

In disgust he resigned the sub-agency and giving 
up his lieutenancy in the army, wxnt to Nash- 
ville and began to study law. In 181 8, when he 
was 25 years of age, he entered the law office of 
Hon. James Trimble. He .had sold his last piece 
of property to discharge a debt wdiich he had con- 
tracted in the attempt to recover from his wound, 
but undaunted, undismayed by the gloomy outlook, 
he began his studies. 

So quickly did he grasp the spirit and the funda- 
mental principles of the law, and so great was his 
knowledge of human nature, men and their affairs, 
that in six months after his first lesson his teacher 



66 Texas Hero Stories 

recommended that he apply for a hcense. Having 
successfully stood the usual searching examination 
he procured a small library and opened an office in 
Lebanon, Tenn. In that same year he was elected 
District Attorney for the Davidson district, making 
it necessary that he should reside in Nashville. He 
was appointed Adjutant General of Tennessee, and 
in 1 82 1 was elected Major General by the field offi- 
cers of the division, which comprised two-thirds of 
the State. 

Although the duties and responsibilities of prose- 
cuting attorney were new to him he rarely failed 
in a prosecution, and, confronting the legal talent of 
one of the best bars in the United States, with prac- 
tical sense and a ready insight, he met their argu- 
ments and decisions ; though at the end of twelve 
months he resigned, he had " made his mark " as a 
lawyer in Tennessee. 

Had he continued at the practice of law he could 
have quickly risen to a place among the great law- 
yers of the world, but politics had a charm for him, 
so in 1823, he was elected, without opposition, to a 
seat in the House of Representatives of the United 
States. With him in this first term were some of 
the ablest men who have ever sat in our National 
Congress. He was returned to Congress by unani- 
mous vote a second time. In 1827 he was elected 
Governor of Tennessee by a majority of over 12,000. 
This was an immense majority considering the pop- 
ulation of Tennessee at that time. He was now in 



Measuring Deer Tracks 67 

the very zenith of his power and the confidence of 
the people knew no bounds. No man in Tennessee 
exercised greater influence over the minds of the 
people. 

He had been elected practically by acclamation 
District Attorney, Major General, member of Con- 
gress and Governor of a grand State, now he calmly 
and deliberately gave up every future opportunity 
for distinction in Tennessee, resigned the office of 
Governor and immediately went into exile. 

The cause of this strange and unheard-of action 
on the part of General Houston was one which lay 
very near his heart. It w^as a personal and a do- 
mestic affair and one which was his own and in no 
sense concerned the people. He never discussed 
the cause of his exile or permitted it to be discussed 
in his presence. It concerned himself and one other 
person for whom he felt the highest regard and 
whose fair name he ever protected. 

With the same courage with which he challenged 
death on the battlefield, the endurance which had 
sustained him during painful and lingering wounds 
with a mould of decision and deliberation belonging 
alone to Sam Houston, he gave up everything that 
was dear to him and that offered power and — re- 
turned to the Indians. 

Upon Sam Houston's decision to go into exile 
hang some of the remarkable events of modern 
history. The same old chief who had adopted him 
and protected him when he was a run-away boy 



68 Texas Hero Stories 

now held out his arms to him, opened his wigwam 
and welcomed '' The Rover" lovingly to his forest 
home in the land of the Arkansas. 

He sat at their council fires, gave them advice 
which they always accepted, and he watched with 
keen eye the outrages that had been perpetrated 
upon them as a race and a people and the wrongs 
heaped upon them by selfish officials. He deter- 
mined to go to Washington and make protest. In 
1832 he went to Washington and through General 
Jackson procured the removal of five agents and 
sub-agents and secured a thorough government in- 
vestigation of Indian affairs. Having attained the 
purpose of his visit nothing could persuade him 
from returning to his red-skinned friends who anx- 
iously waited for him. 

Sam Houston had watched with quiet interest 
the struggle being made by the Americans to oc- 
cupy Texas, and he sympathized deeply with the 
suffering of his fellow men. The Comanche In- 
dians were feared by the whites and all of the In- 
dian tribes. They were very powerful and so hos^ 
tile to every foe that emigration of the other tribes 
was made impossible. It was decided that a treaty 
of peace must be secured, for that and that alone 
would protect emigration. General Jackson had re- 
quested Houston to confer with the Comanches and 
to advise them to send a delegation to Fort Gibson 
on the Arkansas river, with a purpose of later visit- 



Measuring Deer Tracks 69 

ing Washington City. The Choctaws, Chickasaws 
and Creeks all feared the Comanches. 

On the first day of December, 1832, Houston, 
with a few companions left his Indian home in 
Arkansas and started through the wilderness for 
Fort Towson. At Nacogdoches, Texas, he made 
report of his mission to the authorities and pro- 
ceeded at once to San Felipe de Austin, the capital 
of Austin's colony. From here, according to Gen- 
eral Jackson's plan, he continued to San Antonio 
de Bexar, where he interviewed the Comanches. 

While at San Antonio and upon his return to San 
Felipe he obtained a foresight into Texan and Mex- 
ican affairs, the awful tyranny and oppression of 
Mexico and the pitiful condition of the Texans. 
His mind was stimulated to action, he boldly de- 
termined to fight with the Texans, and began at 
once to make plans for their freedom and rights. 
Upon his return to Nacogdoches he was notified of 
his election as a delegate to the convention which 
was to be held at San Felipe in April, 1833, which 
convention he attended. At this convention a con- 
stitution was adopted and the delegates hoped that 
it would be acceptable to the Mexican government, 
but Austin's mission to Mexico asking that it be 
accepted failed entirely. Instead, the Mexican 
Federal government became more and more intol- 
erable and inhuman and the Texans were roused to 
immediate resistance. A consultation for safety, 



70 Texas Hero Stories 

composed of selected delegates, was held at Wash- 
ington on the Brazos and afterwards at San Felipe. 
All the Texas forces were consolidated. A pro- 
visional declaration of independence was made and 
a Governor and Lieutenant Governor appointed. 

Then it was that the event occurred which de- 
cided the destiny of Texas. General Sam Houston 
was elected commander-in-chief of the army of 
Texas. After repeated attempts to capture Mata- 
moras and to hold San Antonio, the struggling 
desperate Texans in convention at Washington on 
the Brazos declared Texas independence on the 
second day of March, 1836, General Houston's 
birthday. This convention made him General in 
Chief and created a provisional government based 
upon a regular, well-prepared constitution remarka- 
ble for some of its points and wise conditions. 

Upon the adjournment of the convention General 
Houston hurried to gather the forces between the 
Brazos and the Guadalupe rivers. Santa Anna was 
advancing from the west with a well disciplined 
army in three strong divisions. As well as Hous- 
ton could, with what forces he could gather, he re- 
treated before the main division of Santa Anna's 
army, his scouts constantly reporting to him the ac- 
tion of the enemy. 

He pursued the policy of retreat and delay until 
he reached the bend of the San Jacinto river, to 
which point he was sure Santa Anna would follow 
him, where he would be out of reach of the other 



Measuring Deer Tracks y\ 

two divisions of his army. Thus cutting off all 
retreat or escape, Houston determined to win or to 
die. \\\\\\ fresh memories of butcheries which had 
outraged human thought and feehng, under the 
magic influence of the hope for Hberty too long 
delayed and under the inspiration of a commander 
in a battle which gained victory in fifteen minutes 
— for Houston, like Napoleon, understood the value 
of time — the invincible Texans destroyed Santa 
Anna's army, twice the size of their own, and cap- 
tured the President of Mexico himself. Numbers 
engaged have been larger, equipment has been bet- 
ter, but no other battle of such results in so short a 
time with such foes to meet is on historical record. 

It is not the number of men, the fury or direct- 
ness of the attack, not the number of the forces 
charging, for enormous armies may fight indecisive 
battles and battles which in no sense mark eras 
in history, but it is results that give to a battle its im- 
portance to a nation or to the world. Texan liberty 
and independence were established. 

After San Jacinto, the provisional government of 
which David G. Burnet was president was busv con- 
trolling the army in the field, disposing of Santa 
Anna and organizing the republic. 

At the election for president, Sam Houston, with 
great rejoicing, was chosen the first constitutional 
president of the republic, continuing In office two 
years. He gave one term's service to the Texan 
Congress and from 1841 to 1845 he again served the 



72 Texas Hero Stories 

republic as President. His administrations were 
marked by his great ability in making and retain- 
ing peace with the Indian tribes and in maintaining 
peaceful relations with foreign countries. His deal- 
ings with Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, 
were marked by a tact, pointedness, a touch of 
sarcasm and withal a glorious patriotism. 

Houston greatly favored the admission of Texas 
into the Union and when Texas became one of 
the United States, in 1845, ^^^ was elected to the 
United States Senate, serving until the fifth day of 
March, 1857. Some of the most vital of our na- 
tional issues were discussed during his period of 
office, among them the Mexican war and its 
causes, the '' Omnibus bill," the " Kansas and Ne- 
braska bill," and so able and clear were his discus- 
sions that they placed him abreast with the other 
great men of his age. 

In 1857 H. R. Runnels defeated him for Gov- 
ernor of Texas and in 1859 he defeated Runnels for 
the same office. 

In 1 86 1 Lincoln was elected President of the 
United States, the war between the States was be- 
gun, and many of the Southern States were leaving 
the Union. The Texas people so thoroughly sym- 
pathized with the South and the principles taught by 
the South that for the first time they would not 
listen to Houston, who was opposed to Texas leav- 
ing the Union. A convention sat at Austin in Jan- 
uary, 1861, which provided for a declaration of 



Measuring Deer Tracks 73 

secession, which was submitted to the people on 
the twenty-third day of February, 1861. Houston 
would not attend the convention, being heartily and 
honestly opposed to the secession of Texas, so the 
people " declared his office vacant." Many, many 
of his friends wished to sustain him in office, but 
desiring to avoid all difficulties which might result 
from force, he quietly gave it up. 

In the speeches made by Houston in the years 
1 860-1 86 1 he shows a wonderful knowledge of the 
political condition of the North and the South, and 
his prophecies in regard to the war came literally 
true. Though Texas left the Union against his 
will, he never ceased to love her, but said : '' I am 
for Texas, whatever she may do, I love my State 
best." One of his sons, with his consent, entered 
the Confederate army. 

He became a private citizen of Huntsville and his 
latter days were spent sadly and silently watching 
the bloody conflict between the United States and 
the Confederate States of America, which national 
strife and the unhappy conditions in its train cer- 
tainly shortened his life. On a summer Sunday 
evening, on the twenty-sixth day of July, 1863, sur- 
rounded by his beloved family and a few friends 
and neighbors, his charmed, strange life w^ent out. 
His remains rest at Huntsville. 

The city of Houston, beautiful metropolis, sit- 
uated on Buffalo Bayou, about twenty-one miles 
from the San Jacinto battlefield, is named in honor 



74 



Texas Hero Stories 



of General Houston. It is, with its splendid schools, 
magnificent churches, homes, sanitariums, Sam 
Houston Park, broad streets, busy market, fiiled 
with evidences of a thriving commercial life, 
and last, but not least, its adorning citizenship, 
who feel that their city is destined to be the greatest 
in this great State, a tribute to the great man for 
whom it is named, and convinces us that after all 
there is " something in a name." 

The grave of Texas' great chieftain at Hunts- 
ville is marked with a simple slab inscribed with 
his name and the date of his birth and death. There 
stands in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol, 
also in our State Capitol at Austin, a statue of 
Houston, erected by the State of Texas and exe- 
cuted by Elisabet Ney, the Texas sculptor, but 
there should be a monument to the memory of Sam 
Houston in every town in Texas where a school boy 
or girl lives. Cannot the boys and girls of Texas 
make this their especial pride and as true pa- 
triots, having learned of his great service, unsel- 
fishly given and with no reward, begin to erect mon- 
uments in their school yards or on the public 
squares that men for years to come, seeing, may 
understand that the boys and girls of Texas know 
the history of their State and give honor to him who 
first honored us. Let us begin the work and never 
stop until our efforts shall be crowned with success 
and we have " erected memorials to him who did 
deliver us." 



Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 75 



FIFTEEN MINUTES OF DESTINY 

It is natural that we should consider Santa Anna 
a monster — a hideous, diabolical, veritable living 
fiend ! It would be well for us to consider the race 
from which he sprang, his training, his surround- 
ings, the men of his race for generations who pre- 
ceded him, and that he was the exponent of this 
race since the days of the conquest by Cortez. 

His massacres at the Alamo and at Goliad were 
the fulfilling of his great boast that he would kill 
every man, woman and child who spoke English 
whom he found west of the Sabine River and it 
certainly looked for a time as though he would ac- 
complish this threat. 

Santa Anna was a brilliant, vain Mexican ras- 
cal. In a manner audacious, shrewd and absolutely 
without scruple of conscience, he had placed him- 
self at the head of the affairs of his country. H(' 
had ability, that has never been doubted, but 
with that ability was enormous wickedness. This 
able, bad man, had, five times, brought Mexico into 
his power and five times he had been literally thrown 
out, despised by his people. 

His successful battles in ^Mexico prior to 1836 
made him think he was the greatest soldier in the 



76 Texas Hero Stories 

world and he demanded in his vanity that his fol- 
lowers should call him "the Napoleon of the 
West." Either in person or through his officers he 
had mistreated every foe and it was his practice, 
understood by his soldiers, to butcher every captive. 
He had kept down literally to the earth his own 
people by murder and tyranny and he knew no other 
methods. He supposed, of course, that in time he 
could so subdue the Texans. This was a miscalcu- 
lation, because the Anglo-Saxon, who loves law 
and liberty above his own life, who hates interfer- 
ence in any form with his personal rights and who 
will not tolerate any interference, may be burned 
or slaughtered, but will not be bound in fetters ! 

There could have existed no greater difference 
than that between the Mexicans and their con- 
querors ! The Texans were not weakened and in- 
timidated over the massacres at the Alamo and at 
Goliad ; they were furious ! 

On the sixth day of March, 1836, at the Alamo, 
the powerful Mexican army under Santa Anna, cap- 
tured the few brave men who composed the garri- 
son and stood out, marvels of personal courage and 
endurance, through eleven days of hardest fighting. 

Every man was butchered ! It was in the Alamo 
that Travis, Bonham, Bowie and Crockett fell ! And 
certainly the Texans would " Remember the 
Alamo." 

On the twenty-seventh day of March, at Goliad, 
after heroic resistance of the little band of Texans 



Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 77 

under Fannin, Santa Anna, after disarming them, 
with his usual fiendish cruelty shot them dead to a 
man ! Fannin and his brave men quenched for a 
time the thirst for Texas blood. 

Certainly the Texans would " Remember 
Goliad ! " So far as Sam Houston and his army 
of frontiersmen, farmers, hunters, herdsmen, Tex- 
ans, could see, they were only avenging the 
butcheries of the Alamo and Goliad, demanding the 
price of the blood of the noble men sacrificed at 
the hands of Mexican murderers, but Sam Houston 
and these riflemen at San Jacinto were building 
more securely than they knew, for in a good deal 
less than a half hour on the twenty-first day of 
April, 1836, 750 Texans met 1,800 Mexicans and in 
a single attack settled an issue which aflPected all 
of America. San Jacinto opened wide the gates of 
history through which enormous events were to 
pass. 

San Jacinto gave the untokl wealth of the Cali- 
fornia gold mines to the Americans instead of the 
IMexicans. 

It established the English language instead of 
the Spanish in that superb area of country from 
the Sabine River to the Pacific Ocean. 

By this battle more than a million square miles 
of territory were added to the Anglo-Saxons, to 
be controlled by their laws, their customs and their 
institutions, to be dominated by their individuality 
and their principles and forever did this battle throw 



78 Texas Hero Stories 

off the ignorant, feeble, decayed, tyrannical govern- 
ment of Mexico! This battle gave the Anglo- 
Saxon race one more superb opportunity to show 
their power and ability to rule the world, and it 
will probably be years before the moral effect of the 
battle can be properly estimated, for, as time passes 
it is revealed to us that this was a battle for coming 
ages and coming generations ; it was the herald and 
the triumphant forerunner of glorious advancement 
and moving forward of our American people. 

San Jacinto was legitimate warfare ! A bloody, 
persistent, even savage campaign, to close with 
magnificent victory ! 

Houston and his fearless soldiers sounded the 
volley at San Jacinto which made Texas an inde- 
pendent Republic, freeing her forever, for in 
fifteen minutes the Mexican lines were wiped 
out and a battle of destiny was fought which turned 
the tide of American history. With a thunderous 
crash the Texans hurled themselves at the Mexican 
lines the moment they came in sight. They shouted 
and shot as they ran, attacking an army more than 
twice the size of their own and in a glorious rush of 
valor the Mexican army was torn up as though by 
lightning. 

Texas was fifty days old that day. Personal and 
political right must be preserved and the business of 
the Texans at this battle was to conquer forever 
that horde of murderers whose hands were still 
stained with the blood of the slaughter of defense- 



Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 79 

less men and who were hungry to slaughter more. 

The twenty-first day of April, 1836, found Sam 
Houston and 750 Texans and Santa Anna with his 
wtII equipped army, more than twice the number 
of the Texans, encamped within a mile of each 
other at San Jacinto, near the banks of Buffalo 
Bayou, about twenty-one miles from the present 
city of Houston. 

Houston's movements had been so slow, as he 
persisted in the policy of retreat and delay, that the 
Texans were horrified ; the bravest men were 
alarmed, and men, women and children in panic 
were fleeing from the very sound of the name Santa 
Anna. Houston's retreat began on the thirteenth 
day of March and he slowly marched from Gon- 
zales to the Colorado, thence to the several points 
on the Brazos ; the enemy was close behind him, 
and the people in terror had begun to wonder what 
to expect and if they would be protected by the 
Texan army. 

Santa Anna, believing himself to be invincible, 
all-powerful, unconquerable and more and more 
" puffed up " over his slaughters of defenseless 
Americans, had allowed his army to scatter. His 
order to his army was to possess the country and to 
shoot every man who resisted. The Mexican army 
was in three divisions : Santa Anna accompanied the 
so-called central division, commanded by Generals 
Sesma and Filisola, which had been following Hous- 
ton upon his retreat. So sure was Santa Anna that 



8o Texas Hero Stories 

the Texans were in his power that he left the main 
army on the Brazos and with about one thousand 
men went to Harrisburg expecting to capture Presi- 
dent Burnet and his cabinet. 

Finding Harrisburg deserted, he burned the 
town and marched rapidly to Washington, which 
village he also burned. It was his intention to 
pursue the President and his cabinet to Galveston, 
take them prisoners, and in triumph declare the 
war at an end, but while his army was making 
ready to take the ferry at Lynchburg (Lynch's 
Ferry) the return of a scout reported the near ap- 
I^roach of Houston and the Texans. Thus was 
Santa Anna completely taken by surprise and sep- 
arated from his army. 

The few hundred, faithful, earnest Texans, with 
their chief, made preparation for the battle, giving 
close attention to the smallest details, neglecting 
nothing. The day was fine ; no clouds were in sight. 
They took their simple morning meal and General 
Houston with pride and confidence, with no doubt 
or misgiving surveyed his army. He instructed the 
fearless, cool-headed Deaf Smith, scout, to procure 
two good axes from the commissary, to hide them 
in a safe place, easy to reach, where upon a mo- 
ment's notice he could bring them out for use. He 
gave Smith specific instructions not to pass the lines 
of the sentinels without orders. 

In the direction of Santa Anna's camp, over the 
high waving grass of the prairie, could be seen a 



Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 8i 

great force which had arrived to join the Mexi- 
cans. There was moving and stirring in the Mex- 
ican camp and the Texans became excited and 
much concerned. 

General Houston well knew the effect that this 
would have upon the spirits of his men, so he cas- 
ually told them that what seemed to be reinforce- 
ments of the enemy were the same Mexicans whom 
they had seen the day before who were just march- 
ing up and down and " round and round " in order 
to alarm the Texas soldiers; that it was just a 
Mexican trick and Santa Anna didn't want to fieht. 
At the same time General Houston sent Deaf Smith 
and one comrade with strictest confidential, orders 
to reconnoiter to the rear of that new Mexican 
force, make investigations and return quieth- to 
him. The messengers returned reporting to the 
soldiers that the General was right, it was all a 
Mexican trick, but to the ear of the anxious Gen- 
eral they made another and a very different report. 
The facts were that General Cos had come bv 
forced marches with more than five hundred men 
to reinforce Santa Anna. 

The secret was kept from the Texas soldiers and 
a council of war immediately called beneath the 
great moss-draped, ivy-covered oaks at San Ja- 
cinto, the members seated in the broad shade on 
the grass. The council, consisting of six field offi- 
cers, and the general in chief, determined upon 
battle. 



82 Texas Hero Stories 

General Houston saw that the men were eager 
for attack, they were restless and ready, so, calling 
Deaf Smith and his companion to him, he went 
with them to the place where the axes were se- 
creted that morning. Handing an axe to each of 
these trusted, selected men, he said : " Take these 
axes, make the best of your way to Vince's bridge, 
cut it up and come back like eagles or you will 
lose the day." The cutting down of Vince's bridge 
prevented all opportunity of escape, since both arm- 
ies had crossed it in order to reach the battle ground. 
It spanned Vince's Bayou, a deep, dark stream which 
emptied into Buffalo Bayou. 

General Houston waited until near 3 o'clock in 
the afternoon, when he made a charge which in- 
spired every Texan, and with the air wild with the 
cry, '' Remember the Alamo ! " "' Remember Go- 
liad ! " the Mexicans, who had not seemed anxious 
to come to an engagement and were hiding behind 
breastworks or taking their " evening nap," gave 
way in terror at the boldness of the charge. At 
this very moment Deaf Smith rode madly up, his 
horse covered with mire and foam and waving an 
axe over his head, cried with the voice of a savage : 
" I have cut down Vince's Bridge ! Fight for your 
lives and remember the Alamo ! " 

The cavalry was first sent to the front with no 
protection whatever for the Texas soldiers who 
advanced through the prairie in steady line. The 
artillery stopped within two hundred yards of the 



Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 83 

enemy's breastworks. The " twin sisters," the two 
pieces of artillery, the gift of the City of Cincin- 
nati to the RepubHc, kept up a continuous firing of 
grape shot and canister, shattering and shivering 
wherever they struck. 

General Houston spurred his horse into the very 
breast of the foe, as the Texans now rushed in 
solid phalanx upon the Mexicans. As the Texans 
neared to within sixty paces, the Mexicans, lined 
up in perfect order, sent a heavy storm of bul- 
lets, but they were sent too high and sped over the 
heads of the Texans, doing little or no damage. 
General Houston was wounded in the ankle and 
his horse was shot. When there was no more am- 
munition, the rifles were converted into war clubs 
and the Texans dealt blows at the heads of their 

foes. 

This was followed by a hand to hand, face to 
face conflict, the Texans splintering their muskets 
on the heads of the Mexicans. The Texans, after 
firing one shot from their pistols, did not stop to 
reload, but threw the heavy clumsy iron at the skull 
of some Mexican. Then they drew their bowie 
knives and cut, slashed and dug deep into every 
Mexican's flesh within reach. Trampling upon the 
dead, rushing madly over the groaning and the dy- 
ing, stabbing to the heart those not already dead, 
they flew after those Mexicans who tried to escape 
and stabbed them in the back. 

At this stage of the battle as the twilight ap- 



84 Texas Hero Stories 

proached, the Mexicans began to " remember the 
Alamo " and to *' remember GoHad." They saw 
something of what their massacre meant to the 
Texans and they cried : " Me no Alamo ! " " Me no 
Goliad ! " By denying participation they hoped to 
gain mercy. 

In no sense were the Mexicans cowards on this 
day, there were fearless charges made by them upon 
the Texas lines. 

When the Texas infantry was charged by a 
Mexican division of infantry, General Houston 
realizing the perilous condition of his men, dashed 
to the front of the line shouting : " Come on, my 
brave fellows, your General leads you ! " The right 
and left wings of the Mexican arm}- had been scat- 
tered before the central breastworks wxre taken. 
Many Mexicans fled from the pursuing Texans, 
each bent on saving himself individually, and they 
staggered, fainted and fell in the oozy, swampy 
grass. General Houston was forced to give im- 
perative commands that the tortures to the wounded 
cease, for the Texans so well " remembered the 
Alamo " that they demanded their price in flesh 
and blood. 

When the flying Mexicans, hotly pursued by the 
Texans, reached Mnce's Bayou and found that the 
bridge was gone, in desperation they clung to the 
banks or plunged into the dark, muddy waters, 
sinking to the bottom. The few who succeeded in 
getting across fell backward into the water, shot. 



Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 85 

as they fell by some Texan. The sound of the 
black, blood-stained stream was accompanied by the 
gurgles, gasps and groans of the dying. 

Where the Mexicans had been in camp near the 
'' island of the great trees," there was another scene, 
ghastly, strange and horrible. In theii: terror, as a 
very last means of escape, some of the ^Mexicans 
had rushed to this spot; the low marshy ground 
under the trees was very deep, and as the horses 
with their riders plunged into the mire, they were 
instantly covered over. The fatal morass soon be- 
came a bridge of dead men, horses and accoutre- 
ments — horses, saddles, shot pouches and powder 
horns all rolled together in a nameless heap. 

Almonte, Santa Anna's secretary, and his men. 
who were located on the " island of trees," had 
made a covenant that they would resist or sur- 
render, but that they would not fly. General 
Houston with as many soldiers as he could gather, 
led his men to a charge, but the General's wounded 
horse, which he had ridden through the dangers 
of the battle, fell dead with seven bullets in his 
faithful body. Until this time the Texans did not 
know that General Houston was wounded. As his 
wounded leg touched the ground he fell. He gave 
his command to General Rusk and another horse 
was procured for him. As General Rusk advanced 
upon the helpless Mexicans, Almonte, realizing the 
situation came forward and offered his sword. 

Resistance to Texas had ceased! Atonement 



86 Texas Hero Stories 

was made for the Alamo and Goliad ! San Jacinto 
was won ! 

The loss of the Mexicans was 630 killed, 208 
wounded, and more than seven hundred and thirty 
were taken prisoners. Only eight Texans were 
killed and about twenty-eight wounded. 

Among the prisoners at the mercy of the Texans 
were Santa Anna; Almonte, secretary to Santa 
Anna ; General Cos, Santa Anna's brother who had 
brought reinforcements to the Mexican army just 
before the battle, and a distinguished Mexican offi- 
cer, Colonel Portillia, who was in immediate com- 
mand when Fannin and his men were murdered 
at Goliad. On the morning of the twenty-second 
of April, Santa Anna was taken to General Hous- 
ton, who, suffering keenly from the wound in his 
ankle, to which he had given no care, so concen- 
trated was his attention upon the success of his 
soldiers, lay upon a blanket under a tree. This 
blanket under a tree was the Texas army head- 
quarters. 

The President of Mexico with all of the fine 
manners of his race and training, bowed to the 
ground. He began the interview by stating : " I 
am Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a prisoner 
of war, sir, at your disposal." General Houston 
asked him to be seated, whereupon he immediately 
asked his attendant for opium, which drug he swal- 
lowed hastily. 

Santa Anna was talkative and tried verv hard to 



Fifteen Minutes of Destiny 87 

Impress General Houston with the grandeur of his 
presence and official power, saying: *' Sir, you 
should be very generous, for remember you have 
captured the Napoleon of the West." 

" And do you expect mercy at our hands when 
you showed none at the Alamo?" asked General 
Houston. 

Santa Anna answered : " When a fort refuses to 
surrender and is taken by assault, the prisoners are 
doomed to death, according to the rules of war." 

" If that be true," said Houston, " such a rule is 
a disgrace to this civilized Nineteenth Century." 

" Tell me, sir," continued Houston, " by what 
rule of war do you justify Goliad?" 

To this question the warrior of Mexico replied : 
'' I had orders from my government to execute all 
who were taken with arms in their hands." 

" Ah, sir," said Houston, " you are the govern- 
ment — for a dictator has no superior — and you 
must immediately write an order for all Mexican 
troops to abandon our country and return to their 
homes." 

Had there been a way out of this, Santa Anna 
would have doubtless found it, but there was none, 
no retreat and no escape ; so the dispatch was writ- 
ten and sent by Deaf Smith and Henry Karnes to 
General Filisola, who was second in command. 
Santa Anna even attempted to negotiate with Gen- 
eral Houston in regard to purchasing his freedom, 
but the General told him that the matter of pur- 



88 Texas Hero Stories 

chase must be taken up with the government of 
Texas. The troublesome part now was the disposal 
of Santa Anna. Many of the Texans clamored that 
his blood, and his blood alone could atone for his 
slaughters, but the prudent, farseeing Houston real- 
izing consequences, thought the matter over delib- 
erately, carefully and decided upon another course. 
He formed a solemn contract or agreement with 
Santa Anna, which provided that he should never 
again take up arms in any form against Texas. 

That every Mexican soldier in Texas should be 
immediately sent home. 

That every bit of property, great or small, valu- 
able or not, which had been captured by Mexicans 
should be restored. 

Before Santa Anna could be free he was sworn 
to abide by these provisions. As the time came for 
the release of Santa Anna the people contended that 
he should be shot or at least remain in Texas for- 
ever, in prison, for indignation ran very high. 
President Burnet detained him for a time a pris- 
oner, but he was liberated by General Houston and 
sent to Washington in January, 1837, and from 
there he returned to Mexico. 



The Rangers on the Plains 89 



THE RANGERS OX THE PLAINS 

" IMount ! Mount ! And away o'er the green prairie 

wide — 
The sword is our scepter, the fleet steed our pride I 
Up! Up! with our flag. Let its bright star gleam 

out. 
Mount ! IMount ! And away on the wild border 

scout ! 

" We care not for danger, we heed not the foe — 
Where our brave steeds can bear us, right onward 

we go : 
And never as cowards can we fly from the fight. 
While our belts bear a blade and our star sheds its 

light." 

" Chivalry gave to the world an ideal manhood. 
The spirit of chivalry, the germ, the actual incen- 
tive, is the defense of the weak and tmprotected," 
and from snch a spirit all that is manly, gentle, 
noble and generous emanates. 

In a day when men lived by such an idea, when 
it was their thought and daily lesson, when its ac- 
complishment brought certain reward and its neg- 
lect certain punishment, and when " to the brave 
did belong the fair," it is little wonder that we 
think of the age of chivalry and knighthood as 
the rosv, flower time of the world, when all that 



90 Texas Hero Stories 

is of the heart seemed uppermost, when human life 
bowed eagerly to human happiness, and courage, 
daring and boldness crowned the hero. 

Though chivalry assumed its definite form in the 
eleventh century, the sentiment, since the beginning 
of time, has lived in the hearts of brave men ; and, 
though its height was undoubtedly reached in the 
holy wars, and, as a code of conduct it has passed 
away, the distinguishing features — a reverence for 
womanhood, a love for feats of arms and adven- 
ture, a real sympathy for the oppressed and indig- 
nation at oppression — still mark the brave knight 
and the gentleman, and this sentiment is awakened 
and stimulated with the opportunity to serve and 
protect. 

As brave a knight as e'er carried lance or 
traversed trackless waste of desert continent, his 
path marked out by the bleached bones of his pil- 
grim predecessors and the tracks of the skulking 
desert jackals, his cross-crowned banner waving 
high to the eastern breeze, his very presence giving 
terror to the ruthless Saracen, was that modern 
knight who rode, often alone, exposed to savage and 
unsoldierlike enemy. His very swiftness was still- 
ness, and with flinty courage that could only be 
conquered in death, he protected a helpless people, 
who but for his mysterious, magical strength would 
have been prey to a race before whose butchery and 
savagery Saracen attack paled into sham and painted 
battles. 



The Rangers on the Plains 91 

The splendid Crusaders were of the nobihty. 
Manv were kings and princes who left thrones to 
fight for an idea and a sentiment. They were 
trained in the manly and martial duties, in religion 
and love, and were taught in feudal castles by 
great ladies, pious priests and veteran knights re- 
turned from the holy, hazardous, journeys. 

The Texas ranger was nature's nobleman. His 
was the rank of personal courage, pluck and pa- 
triotism. His was the nobility of soul and heart. 
He wore no velvet cloak, deep trimmed with lace, 
nor sat in gold-embroidered saddle, his horse gay 
in trappings of purple and silver; but upon quick 
and silent rides, trailing his energetic foe, his was 
the pride of true bravery, the pomp of conscious 
power, the parade of remarkable earnestness and 
the keen appreciation of personal responsibility. 

Sons of good families from all of the states, both 
North and South, their training received from the 
environment of wholesome home life, the Texas 
rangers gave with enthusiasm their service to the 
great State of Texas ; for it was fascinating in its 
majestic size, and to the young heart and imagina- 
tion, was akin to the magic fields 'neath the star- 
decked skies that the Arabian knight found on his 
quest for the Genii of Battle. 

Mediaeval knight-errantry is surpassed by the ro- 
mantic, picturesque ranger, who is secure in his- 
tory, song and story, and because of his grasp 
and performance of duty Texas may challenge all 



92 Texas Hero Stories 

other states in adventure, encounter, personal brav- 
ery and sacrifice, and the ranger is one of the chief 
factors in making our history a classic. 

The rangers are those men who protected the 
Texas frontier from the Indians and the Mexicans 
who haunted every stump and tree, and they held, 
safe and secure, the early Texas homes from bandits 
and desperadoes. The desperado was in his glory, 
he tyrannized over immigrant and homeseeker, 
and from his ravages and raids the ranger gave 
police protection to men. women and children. 

" Texas ranger " means heroism and manliness, 
and we can see him with his earnest face, his clear, 
bright eyes beaming 'neath his broad slouch hat, 
which protects him from the wind and sun, mounted 
on a fleet horse, dangerous to any rider save his 
own ; a coarse woolen blanket, strapped tightly be- 
hind his cowboy saddle ; pistols and knives in his 
belt and desperate determination in his heart. 
Free as the unchained winds that sweep the bound- 
less prairie, he was a terror to the incarnate 
Mexican Devils, a sworn foe to the Indians, who 
with torch, tomahawk and blood-freezing war- 
whoop terrified helpless women and children ; the 
ranger, characteristic exponent of the Anglo-Saxon 
race, drove every enemy away from him and es- 
tablished peace and contentment. 

During the early days of Texas colonization, pro- 
vision was made for the organization of a militia. 
The settlements were unfortified, and the attacks 



The Rangers on the Plains 93 

of the Indians so frequent that volunteer compa- 
nies for domestic protection were raised. These 
vohmteer companies were the first soldiers or pro- 
tectors to be called " rangers." 

So troublesome were the Indians growing on the 
border, their bands increasing in size and strength, 
sometimes half a dozen bands forming a federa- 
tion to attack some unprotected settlement, that 
Texas was gaining a deserved reputation for law- 
lessness, crime, desperation and massacre. 

But there were so many other important affairs 
and so much chaos to be reduced to system that it 
was only after the battle of San Jacinto that the 
legislature provided for the organization and main- 
tenance of mounted companies of " rangers " to de- 
fend the frontier, and these first regulars exposed 
themselves to such dangers and perils as to escape 
many times from the very fingers of death. 

Organized strictly for duty, active, ready for 
service, there was no provision for *' grandstand " 
parade, gaudy uniform or pomp and show. In fact, 
instead of restriction or discipline in dress, speech 
and manner, there was a freedom and ease about 
the ranger which gave him individuality and charm. 
He was opposed to all fixed rules of military re- 
straint. 

Though not military in conception and organ- 
ization, the success of the Texas ranger has never 
been equaled in any era of any history by an or- 
ganization entirely military. Well mounted, well 



94 Texas Hero Stories 

armed, certain as to aim, precise as to the measure 
of time and distance, sensible of the cruelty and 
barbarity of each foe with whom he dealt, and 
always ready for the worst, the Texas ranger stood 
apart, possessed of a powerful combination of traits 
and qualifications. Collectively or individually, he 
exerted a great influence wherever he was thrown 
or wherever he served. Bold and honest, his 
powers far outreached his numerical strength, and 
his protection extended to all classes of people, 
quieting communities, restoring and encouraging 
order, building up and absolutely stopping aban- 
doned conduct and vicious lawlessness. 

To physical courage and athletic skill of the high- 
est type were added fearless moral conviction, a 
keen knowledge of men, their natures and passions, 
a steadfastness of purpose, which he realized was a 
broad and noble one, resources, the quality of adapta- 
tion and the recognition of opportunity with emer- 
gency. Many Texas rangers were college and uni- 
versity bred men of broad information and un- 
questioned scholarship, but they could render any 
service set before them, hew wood, draw water, 
build camp fires, climb to the top of the highest 
tree to watch the route of the enemy, or give gentle 
care to the sick and wounded. 

Those from the most comfortable homes slept 
in marshes and canebrakes, with no pillow save a 
saddle, ofttimes covered with snow and ice, shel- 
tered onlv bv a bleak winter skv. And when a 



The Rangers on the Plains 



95 



guest by choice or chance found his way to a ranger 
camp, blanket, board, fruit and flower were his. 
The ranger well knew and practiced in the wildest 
surroundings the beautiful law of hospitality. Tlie 
ranger was not only a gentleman, but a man, a 
genial, true, noble one. 

Border warfare has an exhilarating and warrior- 
like side, exciting and heroic, with its constantly 
recurring scenes of death, danger and destruction, 
at the same time it is pathetic and painful and the 
adventures of the border protectors are now the 
familiar themes in heroic prose or poem. The his- 
tory of the Texas ranger proves in each day's action 
that truth is stranger than fiction, more terrible 
and, it would seem, more impossible. 

Our hearts thrill with gratitude when we remem- 
ber the ranger on ride and raid, under the silent 
stars, often alone, over the sand and sage of the 
border which he knew was ranged by the fiendish 
Indians, whose instincts were lower and baser than 
those of the beast of the field. The scenes that 
he lived were blood, murder, crime; one brave 
ranger gives his life in the capture of a cattle thief, 
another is called from his camp at hazy dawn to 
protect with his life the youthful mailcarrier who 
rides to the nearest railroad station. A band of 
Mexicans have pursued him, whom the ranger kills 
or cripples, one by one, but before the carrier can 
go safely on his way the ranger falls, to be taken 
to his camp, wounded, bleeding, dying. 



96 Texas Hero Stories 

A Ranger repairing the telegraph lines is shot by 
the hiding Indians ; two rangers are murdered in 
their camp on a frozen morning after a terrible 
midnight ride in a biting wind. 

One rides all day to save a mother and her babe 
in arms whose father's scalp hangs from the big 
chief's belt, and he is shot at sunset bv a red devil 
from behind a mesquite bush. 

While assisting a wounded Indian who pretends 
to be a friend, one brave ranger is cut in the throat 
by the savage, treacherous hand, and his slender, 
tired body torn in pieces by the savages, who wait 
to come at a signal to shriek the war-whoop and 
dance to the sun-spirit over his silent, body. 

A Texas ranger saved a young girl from a tor- 
ture a million times worse than murder by Indian 
or Mexican ; he rode with her for eight miles, while 
«;he clung around his neck seated behind him on his 
faithful horse. When they reached the settlement 
the girl was unconscious, more than half-dead, but 
she was saved. The good horse died and this 
ranger, in restoring the girl to her father, added 
another name to his long list of personal dangers 
and unreckoned benefits. 

The Texas border warfare was modified to suit 
the Texas conditions ; the foes to Texas were in- 
variably on horseback, so the rangers was a cavalry 
service. The chiefly populated part of Texas in 
the earlv days was along the gulf coast and in the 
eastern section along the Sabine river, though grad- 



The Rangers on the Plains 97 

ually the prairies, so long the home of the roaming 
buffalo, and the forests, the hidmg place of the 
Indians, were filling up with settlements, and an 
occasional adventurer would take his family and 
go into the very heart of the interior, selecting a 
home along some stream or finding an unusually 
rich and fertile oasis in the broad prairie. 

Northward and westward the border gradually, 
but surely, extended for uncounted hundreds of 
miles into the blue mountain line which now sepa- 
rates us from New Mexico. But for the presence 
of the ranger, the guardian of safety and domestic 
peace, who went ahead of the settler, all communi- 
ties were helpless against thieves and murderers 
who thickly infested the border region. 

It was while the fury of savage warfare raged 
up and down the frontier, when the ranger was 
protecting early homes and property and overcom- 
ing the wilderness, making our state a habitable 
place for families, that the regular Texas ranger, 
exercising his tact, endurance, steady nerve, skill 
and enormous energy, first gained for himself 
name, fame and grateful remembrance among all 
civilized and law abiding people. 

The years immediately following the revolution 
were a critical time with the young Texas. She 
was in danger from treacheries within and without, 
and beset with difficulties, doubts and fears ; there 
were civil troubles for her to meet, dissensions 
among her own leaders, and her own people ; her 



98 Texas Hero Stories 

strength was not great and she still felt the sting 
and bruise of the fangs of her treacherous enemy, 
Mexico. She felt the need of, and her people de- 
manded, an armed support, a regular dependable 
protection, an economic military system to put down 
internal disorders and foreign invasion. 

Out of these necessities, the ranger service grew ; 
so practical did it prove, and so conducive to 
the peace of mind of the citizens, that just as soon as 
it was possible, the organization obtained legal 
status and military recognition. 

Through each dramatic and, it would seem, often 
helpless condition through which Texas has passed, 
from a province of Mexico to its present proud 
estate, the Texas ranger has answered every call 
for the protection of liberty, honor, government, 
human life, and to the ranger more than to all 
other powers combined is our present excellent 
system of court and constabulary indebted. 

The first organization by formal enactment was 
instituted by Captain Robert M. Coleman at the 
" general consultation " held in San Felipe in No- 
vember, 1835, where provision was made for the 
" raising of a force of 150 rangers to be placed in 
detachments on the frontier." Others were detailed 
along the Trinity, Colorado and Little rivers. 

Captain Coleman, though a fearless soldier, 
greatly beloved by his followers and eternally feared 
by his enemies, was dismissed by President Hous- 
ton soon after he took the oath of office. Cole- 



The Rangers on the Plains 99 

man offended the president by publishing a very 
frank, humorous and somewhat uncomplimentary 
pamphlet, accompanied by ridiculous cartoons and 
illustrations, reviewing the character and life of 
the president. The gallant captain, much attached 
to his men and chosen duties, was greatly embar- 
rassed. He died, from drowning, in 1837. 

Though Coleman was the first in service of for- 
mal enlistment, timely volunteer service, protecting 
the settlers from Indian and Mexican depredations, 
had been given years and years before. There 
were Ha}s, Burleson, Highsmith, Walker, Gillespie, 
Henry McCulloch and " Rip " Ford with others who 
stand apart as soldiers, leaders and patriots. 

Jack Hays, an unique character, afraid of noth- 
ing under the sun, commanded a company of young, 
high-spirited, reckless, dare-devil, though withal, 
patriotic men. Hays, w^ith these same rangers, 
later served in the Mexican war, and among the 
distinguished men who commanded companies in 
this dreaded regiment were General Tom Green, 
later a major general in the Confederate army, 
killed at Blairs Landing, 1864; Ben McCulloch, 
brigadier general in the Confederacy, killed in the 
battle of Elkhorn, Ark., in 1862, and Henry AIc- 
Culloch, a brigadier general, famed for courage 
and patriotism. 

Colonel Hays and his men shed glory upon the 
name of Texas, and proved the marksmanship and 
skill of the ransrers during: the war with [Mexico. 



'&' 



LOFC 



loo Texas Hero Stories 

They were equal to dangerous and difficult scout- 
ing, quick foraging, sudden and furious attack and 
could be depended upon by General Taylor, who 
often sent them to the front. 

Sam Highsmith, hero and ranger, was one of 
the few who, on the field of San Jacinto, sent flying 
the humbled, bleeding, terrified Mexicans, and 
gained a place for Texas in the galaxy of free peo- 
ple. After this battle, so strong did he become in 
conscious power and prowess, that he kept up war- 
fare against the other enemies to peace and happi- 
ness, and also served with Colonel Hays in Mex- 
ico. In 1848, in what is now Blanco county. High- 
smith and a few of his rangers in a bloody foray, 
awed and paralyzed the cruel energies and demon 
designs of a full band of Waco Indians, Highsmith, 
himself killing the chief, Big Water. 

Shapley P. Ross, a ranger captain, who came from 
Iowa to Texas in 1839, devoted his practical in- 
tellect and resourceful strength to the needs of the 
new republic. Steady nerve, coolness in emergency 
and decision, and good, sound sense, characterized 
him ; and it is little wonder that his distinguished 
son, Lawrence Sullivan, lovingly called by his con- 
temporaries " Sul," became honored for these same 
traits. 

Not only did Sul Ross's heroism, strong char- 
acter and uprightness conquer on the battlefield, but 
his victories were many in time of peace, for he 
controlled the convictions of men. This requires 



The Rangers on the Plains loi 

a greater skill than that employed upon the suc- 
cessful military field. 

With modesty, manliness and industry, as an ac- 
tive Texas ranger, soldier of the Confederacy, 
governor of the State of Texas, and last, at the 
head of an institution pledged to the development 
of the substantial, practical side of the education 
of Texas youth, he has left a proud legacy to all 
patriotic Texans who shall come after him. 

Agriculture, town building, numerous immigra- 
tion parties, rapid strides in courts and all civil 
government and general progress marked the in- 
terim between the Mexican war and the war be- 
tween the states, and to this day the victories, 
growth and general going forward of this period 
are enjoyed by Texans. The settlements each grew 
and prospered and the borders were extended fur- 
ther and further into the north and northwest. 

This growth and the assurance that the Texas 
settlements were permanent sent the Mexicans and 
Indians further and further away, and it so in- 
censed them and aroused their fiendish instincts that 
often at midnight they would slip into the settle- 
ment nearest the border, and with the keen, swift 
stroke of the scalping knife, spare not sex nor age, 
burn houses, steal horses and cattle, and with whoop 
and yelp leave the settlement red with blood, hurry 
back to their hiding place to await the next white 
settlement which dared to invade their border do- 
main. 



102 Texas Hero Stories 

Such scenes as these, however, only occurred 
when there was no ranger in sight ; the very ap- 
pearance and presence of the ranger put the cow- 
ards to flight, and as the frontier gradually moved 
westward, the ranger went in advance of it. keep- 
ing a line of defense between the settlers and the 
dangers. Occasionally the attacks were reversed 
and the rangers took the initiative and carried the 
war into the Indians' camp. Sometimes, because 
of the quick maneuvers, the redskins were stunned 
and made powerless. 

It was a case of " reversed warfare " of this na- 
ture when Captain Sul Ross, commanding a com- 
pany of Rangers and Indian Scouts, though he was 
not yet twenty years of age, came upon a very un- 
usual experience. They attacked a Comanche vil- 
lage on Pease river in 1861, over which village with 
pride and savage dignity presided Peta Nacona, a 
great and mighty chief. In a vicious fight, under 
the sound of the Comanche axe, in the midst of 
smoke and flames from the Indian fires ready for 
white victims, and the flourish of knives and thun- 
der of guns, the great chief and nearly every Indian 
were killed. 

When the few Indians who escaped the rangers' 
guns had fled and the noise and din of the fight had 
subsided, brave Captain Ross discovered a fair resi- 
dent in the village, a young woman who had been 
stolen and carried away by these Indians when she 
was a little girl, for Cynthia Ann Parker had been 



The Rangers on the Plains 103 

a captive for twenty-four years. The rangers' in- 
dignation at her captivity somewhat abated when 
they discovered her state of complete happiness and 
contentment in her adopted home. She had 
*' grown up," like Topsy, among the Indians ; they 
had been kind to her and she loved them ; she 
had forgotten her own language and hers were the 
life and habits of the Comanches, to whom she was 
deeply attached. 

Cynthia Ann Parker was the wife of Chief Peta 
Nacona, just slain, and two fine sons had been born 
to them. One of these sons, Ouanah Parker, was 
later chief of the Comanches. The gallant rangers 
restored her to her own people, but the roving life 
held more charm for her than the presence of her 
pale-faced kinsmen. She missed her chief, her 
gypsy habits, her free, wild days in the woods, un- 
housed and unhampered, and she pined away and 
died in " civilization " only four years after her 
recapture. 

During the war between the states many a ranger 
gave valuable service to his country in various 
parts of the South, and, though a greater number 
of Texans were serving valiantly in the Confed- 
erate army in other States, strict military discipline 
and organization were observed in Texas against 
difficulties of the border and interior. Especiallv 
was the service on the Rio Grande invaluable. 
The hostile raids kept the Texas side as red as 
the dividing waters and the banks wxre aglow with 



I04 Texas Hero Stories 

burning camps and cottages, only to be quenched 
bv these brave spirits of emergency and necessity. 
The Rio Grande fights were signaHzed by daring 
and recklessness and participated in by some of 
the best men who ever honored the good state of 
Texas. 

Since the war the state has retained this mili- 
tary protection, and though the death-shriek of the 
terrorized settler, with the desolate cries of women 
and little children, do not reach the ear of the ranger 
as they did fifty years ago, his appearance is still 
a safeguard. It was as late as 1874 that a law 
was passed which provided for a battalion of regu- 
lar rangers, six companies of seventy men each, 
and minute companies, not to exceed 750 men. The 
minute companies were for local use. Captain 
John B. Jones commanded the battalion of rangers 
under the new law. 

This law was worth much to every branch of 
Texas citizenship, for, by its enactment, the author- 
itv and duty of the ranger was increased, and his 
official prerogative now met every need of public 
protection. Complex and difficult were his new 
duties, for, on the one hand he must fight Indians 
and Mexicans and guard a frontier famed far and 
wide for bandit and murder ; on the other, he must 
enforce peace, arrest criminals, take care of pris- 
oners, look to the regulation of courts, juries, and 
all civil protection. He arrested men without war- 



The Rangers on the Plains 105 

rant, which added, of course, to his success, and 
helped to awe the culprits. 

His method of arrest was to draw his six-shooter, 
get the drop on his man, letting him look for a 
minute into the deep black holes of his loaded re- 
volver, while his restless, nervous fingers felt 
around the quick trigger — of course, just a few 
resisted. The bowie knife was used little except in 
camp. Scouting parties were out constantly per- 
forming dangerous and often offensive duties, but 
interlopers, fakers and looters soon had to fly over 
the line. The annals of the service of the ranger 
Avould be incomplete without including the knotty 
complicated problem of cattle stealing, especially 
in the Brownsville region and up and down the 
Rio Grande. 

Just what our dangers were and what they meant 
to the ranger are shown in the situation known as 
the Cortinas war. It was in 1859-60, though cat- 
tje stealing had been going on years and years be- 
fore, probably ever since the first Texan settled on 
a ranch — that Cortina, a systematic, orderly, exact 
and entirely successful cattle thief, raised cattle 
stealing to the dignity of war. 

He was a Mexican bandit and desperado who 
for four years impudently invaded our state, plun- 
dered every settlement, took all the cattle that he 
wanted, committed murders by the wholesale, 
spared no traveler for fear he might tell of what 



io6 Texas Hero Stories 

he saw, and he and his cutthroats violated every 
law of the making of God and man. The " maver- 
icks," that is, the unbranded cattle, were sent over 
the border by the thousand, and Cortina would go 
deliberately into the herd, take all cattle that were 
choice, kill the herder, burn the ranch-house and 
in proud possession return with his own. 

He defeated the Texas soldiery, then fought 
Texas and the United States combined. From the 
high pole on his ranch on Texas soil floated the 
flag of ^Mexico. Such audacious impudence is no- 
where chronicled. 

In response to an appeal from the governor of 
Texas to the war department. General Robert E. 
Lee, stationed in Texas, was ordered to drive Cor- 
tina over the border and to follow him if neces- 
sary. 

One queer thing in regard to cattle-stealing in 
Western Texas is the strange but proven fact that 
some of these old-time desperadoes and border cat- 
tle thieves, the nuisance to the rangers, became 
zealous, law-abiding citizens of Texas, extreme in 
their interpretation of law in regard to later thieves 
and of great assistance to the later ranger service. 

There are other and later Texas rangers whom 
we love and whose service has been vital in our 
growth. They have successfully captured crim- 
inals and outlaws, supported and demanded the 
enforcement of law, and by their service so loyally 
given rendered lasting benefit to Texas and the 



The Rangers on the Plains 107 

Southwest. Some of the rangers for whose names 
the annals of Texas history are mightier are : Jesse 
Lee Hall, Oglesby, Scott, Shelly, Buck Barry, Mc- 
Nulty, Sieker, Caldwell, Baylor, McNally, McKin- 
ney, Neville and McDonald. And their service was 
practically without compensation, for it consisted 
only of $40 per month, rations and arms from the 
state, and they furnished their own horses. 

Through the effectual efforts of such men as 
these, outrages and lawlessness ceased, painfully 
tragic border warfare ended, and, though the In- 
dian and his midnight fires had devastated to with- 
in less than 100 miles of the best populated part 
of the state, since 1874 the " frontier," so long the 
lurking, dangerous place of the savage, has been 
growing, developing and becoming a favorite part 
of our beautiful state. 

A frontier no longer, it is peopled by industrious, 
enterprising and intelligent Texans. Where the 
buffalo once roamed over sage bush and sandy 
waste have been erected wholesome, happy Texas 
homes, and there, in health and plenty, live the 
ranchmen and the cowboys with their wives and 
sunny-faced children. These excellent citizens are 
protected and churches, schoolhouses and public 
buildings mark the passing of the old and the 
dawning of the new era. 

The Texas ranger made for us our public vir- 
tue. His success lay in his directness in punishing 
the individual, in going deliberately and unswerv- 



io8 Texas Hero Stories 

ingly to the heart of the matter ; not in going 
'round and 'round, but " straight home " in a 
straight hne. Both directly and indirectly have we 
felt his influence, and his operations, some of which 
we know ; others will always be veiled in fascinat- 
ing mystery, for the ranger " never tells " some of 
his exploits and wonderful performances. He has 
created in Texas a manhood which is bold in the 
determination of right, and in a true and excellent 
interpretation of right. 

Except for the natural frailties and mistakes to 
which all mortals are heir, and the little weak- 
nesses which seem to attach themselves to and fol- 
low all human endeavors, the Texas ranger in his 
earlier and later service stands a superb type alone, 
typical of none other but an original, unique in- 
dividual. 

His was not military glory bought with a cheap 
price, not the holiday pageant of gold lace soldiery, 
'' invincible in peace and invisible in war," but his 
prompt acceptance and accomplishment of each per- 
sonal and official duty, the finishing of the task im- 
mediately before him, thoroughly and fearlessly, 
knowing no obstacle or hindrance, place him in 
the hearts and homes of Texas, a braver, truer, 
nobler knight than e'er took service in the name of 
St. Michael or St. George. 

And he who wandered into the glowing East to 
restore the tomb of our Saviour did not love Him 
more than he who fulfilled His blessed command 



The Hero of Shiloh iii 



THE HERO OF SHILOH 

The great military ability of General Albert Sid- 
ney Johnston, his dauntless courage, marked integ- 
rity and force of will, were equaled by his loving, 
tender heart, unaffected modesty and purity of char- 
acter. 

Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Washing- 
ton, Mason county, Kentucky, on the second day 
of February, 1803. His father. Dr. John Johnston, 
was an early settler, and his professional duties re- 
quired long journeys over the country. The good 
doctor was a well known and much beloved man ; 
he was, in many respects, an oracle in the com- 
munity, and his judgment was consulted upon va- 
rious subjects. Bold, blunt, fearless, he was an 
unique and interesting character. His wife, the 
mother of our hero, was a quiet, modest woman, 
whose interests and attention centered upon her 
husband and children. 

As a very small boy Albert Sidney gave evi- 
dence of his gift of leadership ; he was energetic, 
persistent and untiring in the plays and games with 
his small companions, and by common consent, was 
the leader and organizer. He played with the same 
force and earnestness as a child that characterized 
his work as a man. 



112 Texas Hero Stories 

As he grew into young manhood, he acquired a 
dignity and a reserve power which added unto his 
general personaHty and gave the true impression 
of his force of character, strong will and complete 
self-possession. As boy and man, he was reason- 
able ; he could see and appreciate " two sides of 
a matter," and in all things he was just. This can 
be said of few men. Afraid of nothing, and at 
times quick and impulsive he was kind, affectionate 
and tender-hearted. With him all things bowed 
to duty. When once he was convinced of the 
part expected of him, or of the work assigned 
to him, he gave his energy and strength, and no 
pleasure or affection could call him away. 

When he was 15 years of age he attended school 
for one session in western Virginia, after which 
he was employed in a drug store ; he showed 
throughout life a great fondness for the medical 
practice and an intimate knowledge of physiology. 

He attended Transylvania college one year, but 
before the close of this year, probably influenced 
by the study of American history and the achieve- 
ments of the Americans in the war of 1812, he be- 
came deeply impressed with a desire to join the 
United States navy. So determined was he to go 
to sea that he secured a warrant as a midshipman, 
and was making preparations to leave home for 
an indefinite time, probably forever. His mother 
and father, who saw in him other and greater pos- 
sibilities, discouraged this idea, and sent him, with 



The Hero of Shiloh 



113 



his sister, to visit in the parish of the Rapides in 
Louisiana. 

The environment was entirel}' new to him and it 
was interesting; his sister gave her constant care 
and attention to him and to the directing of his 
ambitions. She succeeded in quickening a desire 
for study, and at last he promised her that he would 
give up the idea of going to sea. This visit was 
of great import to him because it changed the 
course of his life. 

Returning to Lexington he again took his place 
in Transylvania college. Young Johnston now 
worked hard. All his energy and enthusiasm were 
directed to study ; he appreciated the need of an 
education, and was determined to take advantage 
of every opportunity. He did good work in math- 
ematics, which proved to be his favorite study, 
and his reports showed diligent attention to the 
sciences and Latin. 

Having entirely abandoned the navy he became 
more and more fascinated with the idea of becom- 
ing a soldier, and in this desire he received everv 
encouragement from his parents, his teachers and 
his friends. Through Josiah Johnston, a member 
of congress from Louisiana, he procured an ap- 
pointment to A\'est Point, and with an earnestness 
approaching a religious conviction he entered upon 
his preparations for a military life. 

His life at \\'est Point was signalized by firm- 
ness, deliberation, self-control and enormous work. 



114 Texas Hero Stories 

He seemed determined to be thorough and to learn 
everything offered in the course. His instructors 
respected him and he formed lasting friendships 
with his classmates. With Jefferson Davis, a stu- 
dent at West Point, two classes below Johnston, a 
firm friendship grew up which continued through- 
out life. 

In 1832, when the country, after a long peace, 
was terrorized by the Black Hawk war, Lieutenant 
Albert Sidney Johnston served throughout, giving 
valuable service as civil engineer, going over plain, 
penetrating dark forests and fearlessly fighting the 
Indians. 

He believed in the supremacy and accurate ob- 
servance of law, and felt that his strength and tal- 
ent could not be contributed to better service than 
in aiding men of his own race to secure their lib- 
erty, especially men who were ready to sacrifice 
everything for their personal liberty. So, in Au- 
gust, 1836, he joined the patriots of Texas. It was 
his desire to promote the annexation of Texas to 
the United States, and the interests and the general 
welfare of the struggling republic became first 
with him. 

Under President Lamar he was made secretary 
of war of the republic of Texas. In 1839 he or- 
ganized an expedition to expel the Cherokees from 
East Texas. He fought with General Taylor in 
the Mexican war, who said of him, '' Albert Sidney 
Johnston is the best soldier I have ever seen in the 



The Hero of Shiloh 115 

field." He served as colonel of the Second reg- 
iment of Texas volunteers. 

At the close of the Mexican war he was reap- 
pointed to the United States army in the capacity 
of inspector general. In 1849 he was made pay- 
master, and assigned to the Second cavalry of the 
Texas frontier. For some time he lived in Austin, 
and in 1855 he accompanied General Harney to the 
plains in the West. At frequent intervals he visited 
his plantation home in Brazos county, where he 
lived in comfort and quiet, but with a watchful 
eye upon Texas, and all of her affairs of state in- 
ternal and external. In 1857, when in command 
of the department of Texas, he was ordered to 
Utah to restore order among the Mormons. For 
more than two years as a federal commander his 
position was both dangerous and difficult, placed 
as he was, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, 
in antagonistic relations with the Mormons and 
their leaders. But the Utah campaign was success- 
ful, and he was next removed to California and 
placed in command of the Pacific Coast, with head- 
quarters at San Francisco. 

When the news that Texas had seceded from the 
Union reached him he resigned his command, 
though his surroundings were pleasant and he had 
grown fond of the West, and went immediately to 
Richmond, Virginia, where he joined the Confed- 
eracy. Preparing to resist invasion, the Confed- 
erate government intrusted its western defenses to 



ii6 Texas Hero Stories 

him, and he estabHshed east of the Mississippi a 
strong Hne of defense. 

While in command of the Confederate Hnes west 
of the Cumberland mountains, which extended from 
the Cumberland mountains to the Mississippi river, 
including Forts Henry and Donelson, arrayed 
against him were the enemy in Kentucky, more 
than 100,000 strong, under General Buell, and 
across in Illinois 15,000 strong, under General 
Grant. 

Buell and Grant had planned to crush the Con- 
federates, but Johnston, not waiting for their at- 
tack, on the morning of the sixth day of April 1862, 
attacked Grant near Shiloh church, about two miles 
from the Tennessee river near the line between 
Mississippi and Tennessee, and the result was a 
quick, terrible battle. 

When it seemed that Grant's army would cer- 
tainly be annihilated, when the Federals were scat- 
tered and hastening to their gunboats on the river, 
and victory was crowning every attempt made by 
the Confederates, the center, the life, the very heart 
of the brilliant achievement, was removed. 

General Johnston was killed. Beauregard now 
took command, Buell joined Grant and the Con- 
federates were outnumbered nearly two to one. 

General Albert Sidney Johnston's remains were 
temporarily buried in New Orleans ; over this 
temporary tomb the citizens of this patriotic city 
have erected a superb bronze equestrian statue, and 



The Hero of Shiloh 117 

underneath the tomb, which is a mausoleum of 
marble and stone with grass-covered sides, lie en- 
tombed many of the soldiers of the army of Ten- 
nessee. 

In accord with the expressed wish of General 
Johnston, " When I die I want to lie in Texas soil," 
on the first day of October 1866, the legislature of 
the State of Texas, by joint resolution unanimously 
adopted by both houses, appointed a committee to 
arrange for the removal of the sacred remains to 
Austin, Texas. Xew^ Orleans surrendered the body 
of the great Southerner, and, with every ceremony 
and dignity it was escorted to Austin in January, 
1867. 

In Galveston, a city once the home of General 
Johnston, upon the arrival of the steamer, great 
honor was shown by the citizens, and upon the 
arrival in Houston, where the body rested for a 
day at the Houston academy, men, women and 
little children with beautiful flowers covered the 
casket. Bells tolled, no military officers were seen 
on the street, and in the presence of thousands 
the funeral party with its precious burden departed 
on the Houston & Texas Central railroad for Aus- 
tin. The remains were presented to the state by 
Colonel Ashbel Smith ; they were received by Gov- 
ernor Throckmorton ; funeral rites were observed 
in the old capitol, and the mortal part of the peer- 
less leader was placed in the State cemetery. 

On the twenty-sixth day of September 1906, there 



ii8 Texas Hero Stories 

was unveiled over his grave a beautiful recumbent 
statue erected in accordance with a provision made 
by the Texas legislature. This beautiful statue 
marking the sacred resting place, is the work of 
the Texas sculptor, Elisabet Ney of Austin. 

Beloved and blest. 

He rests in Texas earth, 

Men like Albert Sidney Johnston make us proud 
of our kind. 




Francis Richard Lubbock. 



Our War Governor 119 



OUR WAR GOX^ERXOR 

As if to illustrate that same patriotic devotion 
to the cause of his people which had marked his 
youth and mature manhood, Francis Richard Lub- 
bock lingered in the fullness of years to watch and 
approve the state's wondrous work, and unto the 
end of his useful life to " look forward " and to 
hope. 

His life is the story of the splendid growth of 
Texas from pioneer struggle to the power and vigor 
of a glorious commonwealth. Much that is intrin- 
sic in the history of Texas is a part of his service 
to this state. Spanning intervals, his official career 
covers a period of fifty-six years. 

In spite of tempting opportunities to err, to stoop 
from his high pedestal of the confidence of the 
people, he remained until the end trustworthy and 
unselfishly interested in the needs, advancement 
and excellence of Texas. 

Francis Richard Lubbock, born in Beaufort, 
South Carolina, on the sixteenth day of October 
1815, was the son of Henry W. and Susan Ann Sal- 
ters Lubbock. When he was young his parents 
moved to Charleston, where he first went to school : 
next he attended Beaufort college, and later the 



I20 Texas Hero Stories 

South Carolina Society school, into which only chil- 
dren of members were admitted. 

When he was fourteen years of age his father 
died, leaving a small estate. Frank was the oldest 
of seven children, and he immediately sought em- 
ployment that he might assist his mother in caring 
for her large family. It had been his father's hope 
and intention that young Frank should enter the 
National Military Academy at West Point. This 
opportunity was offered, but because his mother, 
brothers and sisters were dependent upon him, 
young Lubbock abandoned, with noble self-sacri- 
fice, the opportunity, at that time very rare, of 
securing a thorough education and a knowledge 
of military affairs. He was rewarded later for 
this devotion to duty and love for his mother. 

In 1834, with small capital he went to New 
Orleans, where he engaged in the drug business. 
Though only nineteen years of age, his business 
prospered, until 1836-37, which years mark a finan- 
cial revolution. Under the stringency of the times 
the youthful merchant succumbed and surrendered 
every dollar to his creditors. 

He enrolled in the New Orleans Grays, a com- 
pany organized in New Orleans under Captain 
W. G. Cook, for service in Texas. He participated 
in the capture of San Antonio and the surrender 
of Cos to the Texans in 1835. 

In 1836 he moved his family to Texas, landing 
at Quintana, at the mouth of the Brazos. In 1837 



Our War Governor 121 

he removed to Houston, which city became the seat 
of government the next year. The state archives 
were soon moved to Houston from Columbia and 
an extra session of Congress was called. F. R. 
Lubbock was elected assistant clerk of that congress 
and at the next session chief clerk. During this 
session E. M. Pease, the comptroller, resigned, and 
Lubbock, though only twenty-two years of age w^as 
nominated by President Houston to fill the vacancy, 
and the nomination was confirmed by the senate. 
During the administration of President Lamar, who 
succeeded Houston, he was removed for political 
reasons, the chief one being his allegiance to the 
Houston party. 

Until 1 84 1 he engaged in wood chopping and 
farming on Buffalo Bayou. Upon the accession 
of General Houston to the presidency he was again 
appointed and confirmed comptroller, and removed 
to Austin, the seat of government. He soon re- 
signed the comptrollership to accept the ofBce of 
district clerk of Harris county, which office he held 
for sixteen consecutive years. 

In 1857 Runnels and Lubbock were nominated, 
respectively, for governor and lieutenant governor, 
and were elected by good majorities. Lubbock was 
so honored in recognition of his effective fight 
against the Know Nothing party. In 1859 Runnels 
and Lubbock were again nominated, but were de- 
feated by General Sam Houston and Colonel Ed- 
ward Clark. Lubbock then returned to farm life 



122 ' Texas Hero Stories 

near Houston. In 1856 he was a presidential elec- 
tor and in i860 a delegate to the Charleston and 
Baltimore convention. 

In 1861 he was elected governor of Texas and 
inaugurated in November of that year. His two 
years' service was devoted to establishing the in- 
dependence of the Confederate states, and to pro- 
tecting the Texas frontiers from the Indians and 
Mexicans. 

As " war governor," problems grave, perplexing 
and momentous presented themselves for his solu- 
tion, but never once did his love for Texas and the 
Confederacy falter. 

One of the very important events of his admin- 
istration was the capture of the Harriet Lane, com- 
manded by Commodore Wainright, in Galveston 
harbor, by the Confederates under General Ma- 
gruder on New Year's day, 1863. Upon the signal 
being given, the Confederate boats Neptune and 
Bay Oil City attacked the Harriet Lane, firing from 
behind a bulwark of cotton bales. Captain Wain- 
right was killed. 

The Neptune was sunk, the Bayou City soon 
became entangled in the rigging of the Harriet 
Lane, and the Texans leaped on board and took 
possession. Her officers were lost and she sur- 
rendered. The Confederates lost twelve men killed 
and sixty-five wounded, the Federals lost 150 killed 
and a large number wounded. The Federal soldiers 
on land surrendered after a persistent fight ; the 



Our War Governor 



123 



Federal ship JVestficld in trying- to leave the harbor 
ran aground and the Federals blew her up to pre- 
vent her capture. For the remainder of the war 
Texas was in the hands of the Confederates. With 
less earnest, careful management during these dark 
days, the people of our state would have suffered 
and our honor been sacrificed. In 1863 he actively 
entered tlie conflict, was commissioned and assigned 
to duty under General Magruder as lieutenant col- 
onel. 

In 1864 he was summoned to Richmond, Va., 
where President Jefferson Davis, of the Confed- 
erate States of America, appointed him one of his 
aids with the rank of colonel of cavalry, his first 
official duty being to " proceed at once to the front, 
for investigation of the condition and needs of the 
soldiers of the trans-Mississippi department " (the 
soldiers west of the Mississippi river). 

Colonel Lubbock was captured and carried first 
to Fortress Monroe, later to Fort Delaware, near 
Philadelphia, where for seven months he was kept 
in closest confinement. He returned to Houston 
on the twenty-fifth day of December, 1865, locating 
at Harrisburg, near Houston. In 1875 he was ap- 
pointed tax collector, and in 1876, he was elected 
state treasurer, serving until 1893. He died at 
Austin, Texas, on the twenty-second day of June, 
1905, and he is buried in the state cemetery, where 
sleep many of Texas' devoted patriots. 

He lived in full reverence of God, sincere and 



124 Texas Hero Stories 

secure. He did not retrograde, but positively and 
constantly went forward, keeping abreast with the 
progress and development of his state. He exem- 
plified his interpretation of " helpfulness " by being 
most willing to help those who tried to help them- 
selves. At his passing, Texas wept, and his life is 
a fond and fadeless memory. He was a constant 
friend, a Christian gentleman, a loyal, loving Texan. 




John H. Reagan. 



The Old Roman 12 



THE OLD RO^IAN 

John H. Reagan was an integral part of that day 
in Texas when no eye could see and no voice foretell 
the magnitude, the might and the glory of the in- 
fant republic, or know of the brave, the heroic and 
the enduring parts which were to be taken by her 
sturdy sons. 

He was original, a type himself, and far renx)ved 
in intellect and heart from the average man. 
Faithfulness rather than genius, and patience rather 
than strenuousness, marked his life, and wdiether 
defending Texas against the Indians, in the courts, 
in congress, or a citizen in private life, we find 
the law of individuality strictly observed in him. 
He was no imitation, for he stood alone, separate 
and distinct. When the war between the states be- 
came a certainty and state was allied against state, 
there was no doubt or hesitation in regard to 
what he should do, for he had convictions, courage 
and character. He loved the whole great countrv 
and would have been glad for it to have remained 
one, with no division or strife, but he loved t!rj 
South, and Texas the best of all. 

As a member of the cabinet of the Confederate 
States of America, he was the friend and supporter 



126 Texas Hero Stories 

of President Davis, and when the Confederacy was 
no more he remained with him, in loyalty and 
truest friendship, risking his life to do it, and be- 
cause of his courage and conviction spending bleak 
unwholesome months in gloomy Fort Warren 
prison in Boston harbor. Nor was he alone. 
Alexander Stephens, vice-president of the Confed- 
eracy, the great southern historian, shared with 
him the prison sufferings. For the Confederacy, 
its cause, principles, teachings and example, beat 
the great heart of Judge Reagan. 

Because of his strength of character, fearless 
leadership, and willingness to accept the results 
of right, whatever they might be, he has long 
been called " The Old Roman." 

One act of his life, if there was none other, shows 
his unselfish love for Texas and her well-being. He 
resigned a seat in the United States senate to be- 
come chairman of the railroad commission of Texas, 
a tribunal new and untried, and this certainly shows 
his farseeing appreciation of the State and her peo- 
ple. 

In his declining years, spent at his picturesque 
home. Fort Houston, near Palestine, he prepared 
a volume of memoirs, which volume is a precious 
inheritance to the citizens of this state and to 
every boy and girl, for it includes that which is 
historic in the civil and political development of 
our state and many personal reminiscences akin to 
his life, so broad and so full, before, during and 



The Old Roman 127 

since the war and up to a short time prior to his 
death. 

John Henninger Reagan, son of Timothy R. and 
Ehzabeth Lusk Reagan, was born in Sevier countv, 
Tenn., on the eighth day of October, 1818. His 
ancestors were Hving in America prior to the war 
of the American revohition and his great-grand- 
father, a soldier in the war of the revolution, was 
vi^ounded at the battle of Brandywine. 

He first attended school at Nancy academy, 
Sevierville. When, on account of financial diffi- 
culties, his father could no longer send him to 
school, he determined to secure an education for 
himself. He found employment with a Major 
Walker for one year at farm-work, receiving his 
pay in corn at two shillings per bushel. His next 
earnings, received from managing a set of saw- 
mills, enabled him to attend Marysville college 
for two sessions. 

He was next engaged by his old employer, Major 
Walker of Sevier county, as bookkeeper in his 
country store. In order to obtain employment 
which would pay him better, in order that he might 
graduate, he left Tennessee and went direct to 
Decatur, Ala. Here he refused a flattering op- 
portunity to go in the liquor business, as he did 
not wish to be thrown in contact with such con- 
ditions and surroundings. From Decatur he went 
to Memphis, Tenn.; thence to Xatchez, Miss., 
where he secured a position as teacher. But be- 



128 Texas Hero ^Stories 

fore assuming the duties of schoolmaster, a more 
lucrative position was tendered him as manager 
of a farm, which he accepted and held for some 
months. 

He left Natchez on a boat on the Red river, in- 
tending to go to Alexandria, La., but on the boat 
he met a Colonel Strode, a merchant from Nacog- 
doches, Texas, who made him an offer of $800 
a year to sell goods for him in Nacogdoches. He 
accepted the offer and came to Texas in 1839. 

At this time there were probably not 100,000 
white people in the republic of Texas and there 
were but twenty-six states in the union. He fought 
the Indians and gave valuable assistance in pro- 
tecting the frontier when he first came to Texas. 
From 1839 to 1843 he was busily engaged as deputy 
surveyor of the public lands of Texas, traversing 
the picturesque country in the eastern portion of 
the state, camping for days in the woods and near 
the rivers in middle Texas and becoming familiar 
with the physical conditions of the new repu1)lic. 

He began the study of law in 1844, without a 
teacher and with few books other than the ele- 
mentary branches of the law. In 1846 he received 
a temporary license to practice in the district and 
inferior courts, his office being located at Buffalo, 
on the Trinity river. In 1847 he was elected to the 
state legislature from the Nacogdoches district. In 
1848 he received regular license to practice law in 
the district and inferior courts of Texas, and a 



The Old Roman 129 

little later he was licensed to practice in the supreme 
court of the state. In 1857 he was authorized to 
practice in the supreme and inferior courts of the 
United States. In 1852 he was elected district 
judge, his district including the counties of Hous- 
ton, Anderson, Henderson, Van Zandt, Navarro, 
Ellis, Kaufman, Tarrant and Dallas. In 1851 he 
took up his residence in Palestine, Anderson county. 
In 1857 he was elected to congress from the first 
district of Texas. He was re-elected to the national 
congress in 1859. In 1861 the secession conven- 
tion elected him deputy to the provisional govern- 
ment of the Confederacy. This same year he was 
appointed post-master general of the provisional 
government of the Confederacy. In 1862 the Con- 
federate government retained him in that honorable 
office, whose duties he discharged until the close of 
the war. 

During the administration of the Confederate 
government, for a short time he acted as secretary 
of the treasury. He re-entered the national con- 
gress in 1875, and he was a member of the state 
convention, serving as chairman of the judiciary 
committee, which formed the constitution of 1876. 

He served in the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty- 
sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth 
congresses including the years 1877 to 1887. He 
was United States senator from Texas during the 
years 1887 to 1891, the Fiftieth and the Fifty-first 
congresses. In June, 1891, he resigned his seat in 



130 Texas Hero Stories 

the senate of the United States to accept the chair- 
manship of the Texas railroad commission, which 
was created in accord with an amendment to the 
state constitution passed on the nineteenth day of 
December, 1890, and an act of the Texas legisla- 
ture, passed on the third day of April, 1891. He 
held the chairmanship of the Texas railroad com- 
mission for eleven and a half years, when he vol- 
untarily resigned and retired to private life in his 
home. Fort Houston, near Palestine, Texas, where 
he died in April, 1905. 

In accord with nature's law, ripe in years and 
waiting, he entered into rest, in the eighty-seventh 
year of his noble, unselfish life. 

A grateful people w^ill ever revere his memory. . 




James Stephen Hogg. 



The Tribune of the People 131 



THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE 

The mention of the name, James Stephen Hogg, 
brings a brightening to the eye and a quickening 
to the heart of Texans. Magnetic leadership, when 
it is directed to all that is good, enduring, true and 
steadfast, when it inspires the best impulses in men 
and stimulates them to action, is a gift from God 
and fulfills His law and plans for us. A great 
leader whose powers are directed for good is a 
benefactor to mankind, bringing understanding, 
growth and good will, excluding selfishness, vanity, 
love of display and all useless burdens to the peo- 
ple. 

By nature a great leader was James Stephen 
Hogg, and his true motive was genuine love for 
the people and an unselfish interest in their welfare. 
To the young men of Texas, because of his in- 
dustry, ability and determination to conquer dif- 
ficulties, his truthfulness and rugged simplicity, 
his life will ever be an inspiration. By his faith- 
fulness to every trust, great and small, his fearless 
and aggressive honesty, his earnestness and plain 
speech, he won and deserved the respect of all who 
came near him. 

The hardships, privations, self-sacrifices and 



132 Texas Hero Stories 

well-fought battles of his early years purified the 
gold of his character, for in his youth time there 
was little ease and idleness. Of great hope, great 
ambitions and a determination to make a man of 
himself by overcoming every difficulty, he struggled, 
on and on, preparing himself in the valuable 
schools of patience, endurance, self-understanding, 
broad sympathy and faith in God. His was a life 
of unstinted labor, increasing effort, great propor- 
tions and great results. 

From the first bread-winning struggle of a poor 
boy to the brightest place in the hearts of his people 
there was a steady, wholesome growth. It is all 
real, human, delightful and helpful. 

Endowed physically and mentally with the ma- 
terials which make greatness by the natural law 
of development, greatness came to him ; it was 
his inheritance. He was great by nature, not by 
chance, circumstance or accident. Under all cir- 
cumstances he would have been a great man, for 
Under all circumstances, favorable or unfavorable, 
pleasant or unpleasant, he would have been himself, 
with an individuality, a unique bearing and a 
presence all his own. 

As justice of the peace, county attorney, district 
attorney, attorney general or governor, his service 
was signalized by a fearless interpretation of duty, 
with no hesitation to incur " the ill will of the law- 
less." 

During the years of his public service, crowded 



The Tribune of the People 133 

with labor and honor, he was first, last and 
always the friend of the people ; their well-being 
was his first thought ; he believed in the aristocracy 
of brain and heart, and nothing could wean from 
him the esteem, the confidence, the love of the com- 
mon people. All who were worthy were welcome 
in his presence ; it was only those whom he con- 
sidered the enemies to right and truth whom he 
positively refused to call his friends. Among his 
friends were some of the truest patriots of his 
time. 

His private life was without reproach and his 
home was of the kind which is the foundation of 
all solid national governments, love, faith in God 
and consideration one for the other blessing it. 

Among this good man's devoted friends were 
little children ; there was a tenderness and a sweet- 
ness in his nature, and little ones who seem to know 
intuitively who is good, loved and trusted him. He 
was probably more generally loved than any man 
who ever lived in Texas, having an absolute hold 
upon the hearts of the people. 

He was a thorough and an adoring Texan and 
a superb product of this state ! 

James Stephen Hogg, of Scotch-Irish descent, 
was born on the twenty-fourth day of March, 1851, 
near Rusk, Cherokee county, Texas. His father, 
Joseph Lewis, and his mother, Lucinda McMath 
Hogg, moved to the republic of Texas in 1839, lo- 
cating first near Nacogdoches. Joseph Lewis Hogg 



134 Texas Hero Stories 

represented his district in the Eighth Texas con- 
gress, which held its session at Old Washington ; 
in 1843 ^^d 1844, he was a delegate to the annexa- 
tion convention which sat at Austin on July 4, 1845, 
and a member of the State senate of the First Texas 
legislature, in 1846. Senator Hogg resigned his 
seat in the senate to give volunteer service under 
Governor Henderson's leadership in the Mexican 
war. At the close of the war he resumed his seat 
in the senate. He voted for secession and joined 
the Confederate army in 1861, with a commission 
as brigadier general from President Davis. He 
died in May, 1863, while commanding his brigade 
at Corinth. 

At the age of 11, James Stephen, left an orphan, 
was thrown upon his own resources. After attend- 
ing school for a short time, he left Cherokee county 
and went to Longview, where he obtained employ- 
ment as "■ devil " in a printing office. He saved 
enough money to buy the printing outfit which he 
moved to Quitman, Wood county, and became the 
editor of the Quitman News. He studied lav^ at 
night and whenever he could spare the time from 
the paper, and w^as admitted to the bar of Wood 
county in 1874, aged twenty-four years. 

Having successfully served as justice of the 
peace, in 1878 he was elected county attorney of 
Wood county, and in 1880 he was elected district 
attorney of the Seventh Judicial district. 

After four years of satisfactory service he moved 



The Tribune of the People 135 

to Tyler, where he devoted himself exclusively to 
his private practice. He became a candidate for 
attorney general in 1886, was elected, and filled this 
very important office with distinction for four years. 

His administration as attorney general is marked 
in that he compelled all corporations to comply with 
the law, actually and really, " to the letter." He 
was firm and unswerving in this, and for this, if 
for no other service, Texas is deeply grateful to 
him. There was no evading of the law, nor was 
there any misinterpretation of it. Fearless, just, 
sure of the right, always ready to take the initia- 
tive, he stood firmly by the constitution of the state 
of Texas and forced others to do it. 

In 1890 he announced himself a candidate for 
governor, selecting his birthplace as the scene of 
his opening speech, and he was elected by a mag- 
nificent majority and inaugurated on the thirtieth 
day of January, 189 1. 

The first important action of his administration 
was the creation of the railroad commission of 
Texas, a tribunal which has served as a model for 
many other state commissions since established. 
Through the influence of Governor Hogg laws were 
passed regulating land ownership in Texas and 
restricting the ownership of lands by corporations 
on prescribed conditions. These were public serv- 
ices of wonderful magnitude. 

The corporations, or the " conservative element," 
opposed Governor Hogg's second term and vigor- 



136 Texas Hero Stories 

ously fought for their candidate, Judge George 
Clark of McLennan county. It was a spirited cam- 
paign, feehng ran high and the entire state was 
aroused. Governor Hogg was re-elected. 

He retired from the governorship in 1895 and 
renewed the practice of law, first in Austin and later 
in Houston. 

He died in Houston, on the third day of March, 
1906. 

Though his virtues will be commemorated in 
marble and bronze, and statues erected to tell the 
stranger of his life and death, the great work which 
he accomplished for the plain people will be his 
enduring monument. 

To a place high on the roll of her illustrious sons 
will Texas write his name, for he has left a record 
made by few men in any state or in any epoch of 
national life. 



The Sibyl's Story 137 



THE SIBYL'S STORY 

The ancients believed that the records of each 
nation were carefully chronicled and guarded by 
a " Sibyl." 

A Sibyl was a prophetess, or one who could fore- 
cast the future. This Sibyl kept a clear and ac- 
curate record, and she judged the future of a coun- 
try by consulting the annals of its past. Hers was 
inspired wisdom. She was never mistaken, and 
kings and great soldiers have been known to offer 
her crowns and kingdoms, thrones and principali- 
ties, to give unto their possession the priceless 
books. 

Only one time did the Sibyline books ever come 
into the possession of a king. During the reign of 
Tarquinus, king of Rome, the Sibyl, who was an 
adoring patriot as w^ell as a prophetess, realizing 
the hopeless dangers to which her country was 
about to be exposed, and determined to protect her 
people, pleaded with the king to purchase the books. 

Her books, nine in number, contained the records 
of the past history of Rome and prophecies of her 
future. The king, who believed in his own powers 
and thought little of hers refused, so the Sibyl re- 
turned to her home and destroved three of the 



138 Texas Hero Stories 

books. She went again to the king and asked the 
first price for the remaining six and the king again 
refused. Burning three more, she went back to the 
king, asking the same price. This so excited the 
king that he purchased the three at her original 
price, and the Sibyl vanished. 

These books, written on palm leaves and in verse, 
were constantly consulted by the Romans, who 
abided absolutely by their decisions, and the people 
w^ere led to great victories in peace and war. After 
these visits of the Sibyl her warnings and proph- 
ecies were believed by all of the people. 

Let us visit our Sibyl, view the pages of her book, 
and judge, with her, our country's future by consult- 
ing the annals of its glorious past. 

We find her in her temple high on a hill, which 
overlooks fair fields of ripening grain, sitting, 
thinking, looking in quiet gaze at the pages of her 
great book. 

Upon a picture here and there her mind seems 
riveted. She looks long and lovingly at the toils, 
trials and hardships in the wilderness, at the suffer- 
ing men and women, the boats freighted with 
human life, lost upon river and bay, and the hearts 
that ache with loneliness. 

She pauses to point to the priests in the missions 
who are trying to teach the Indians good and 
useful things, exposing themselves to every danger 
and sparing no means to bring the Indians to 
Christianity. Her .lips move as she remembers the 



The Sibyl's Story 139 

waiting, patient faces of those women whose hus- 
bands followed their leaders into the wilderness, 
who wait and watch and pray for the precious pres- 
ence which has gone out forever. 

The Sibyl stops to show us the graves marked 
by a solitary cross which silently speak the agony 
of those whose loved ones were massacred by 
savages or who died from the ravages of disease. 
She turns the pages of her records slowly as she 
follows a splendid form through acres of maguev 
plant, over highways bordered by hedges where 
bandits hide, into a beautiful foreign city, and she 
hears his appeal to the authorities, his pleadings 
for his people. 

She looks across the mist of years at Goliad and 
the Alamo, lovingly calls the martyrs' names, and 
then upon a battlefield, where she sees a strong 
man, with broad brow, determined face and nerves 
of steel, fighting a horde of brown-skinned, savage 
soldiers. 

Another picture shows this same determined man 
carefully guarding and guiding, as its head, an 
infant nation, and the Sibyl explains that this nation 
claims its own flag, which we call " The flag of 
the republic of Texas." The pictures which follow 
this one show homes being erected, farms culti- 
vated, boats landing, chapels and churches going 
up in every community. 

Next, Texas is shown as one of many great states 
in a great union. Her flag is changed, and now 



140 Texas Hero Stories 

the " red, white and blue " waves over her new 
homes. But ere we pass this picture, there ap- 
pears another, not unhke some others. The 
Texans are again leaving their homes to fight ; to 
fight the same Mexicans, who need one more lesson 
to teach them that they are fighting men of another 
race than theirs. The Texans, 'neath the red, white 
and blue, are fighting with the other Americans 
against Mexico. 

After the war with Mexico comes a sweet, rest- 
ful picture. The soldiers are returning to their 
homes, and their energy and determination are 
turned to home-building and home-beautifying, 
and the Texas homes of this period in our history 
were among the most characteristic and picturesque 
of any in the Southland. 

Then, a picture appears which '' looks like war," 
but of its own particular kind. One man, or not 
more than two or three men, are pursuing a band of 
Indians, Mexicans or desperadoes across our 
border ; then they rush back to give care and com- 
fort to the unprotected settler, his wife and his 
children. 

The Sibyl believes in the Texas Ranger, and 
tells us that he has had a part in each phase of our 
wonderful growth. 

Now, the sad, sad pictures. 

These same Texans who are enjoying a well- 
earned rest in their quiet homes, are called away. 
In large numbers they leave, men and boys, march- 



The Sibyl's Story 141 

ing under the flag which we call the " Stars and 
Bars," for Texas is now in a new government, the 
" Confederacy," and these same Texans who fought 
for their rights at San Jacinto, who fought side by 
side with their fellow Americans in Mexico's capital, 
know how to fight for their adored Southland, and 
for four long years many a battlefield was hal- 
lowed with the blood of Texas soldiers. 

Then we silently turn to pictures of sad-faced 
women and little children, deserted homes and 
homes with funeral crepe upon the door where a 
father or a son lies dead, and over the long, wind- 
ing roads and pathways we see the broken-hearted, 
desolate soldier slowly returning to his Texas home. 

We see the Texan as a " Clansman," protecting 
his own home and that of his neighbor from the 
hideous crimes of the " reconstruction " days after 
this w^ar, and then, in spite of every hardship, and 
the crudest disappointments, we see these soldiers 
rising above difficulties and trials, and the remain- 
ing pages of the Sibyl's book exhibit in glowing 
color and illuminated page what has been the work 
of the Texans since the war, and how the Texan 
is a soldier in time of peace. 

As she turns many pages at a time she points to 
the railroads which have taken the place of the 
prairie wagons and stage coaches, and to the tele- 
phone and telegraph lines which show that the 
duties of the messenger rider are over forever. 
We are not able to count the towns which ap- 



142 Texas Hero Stories 

pear, one after the other, filled with bright-faced, 
happy, busy men and women, all intent upon accom- 
plishing something. 

She points with the enthusiasm of a child to the 
various pictures. The first is a city by the sea, 
where a great wall is erected to protect the city 
from the wind and the wave. She stops to foretell 
that no storm or tide can break its mighty rocks 
from their foundations. Galveston is safe forever 
from flood and destruction and ships from all parts 
of the world are entering her harbor. 

Near this picture is another ; a city whose market 
is overflowing with every product of the enterpris- 
ing truck farmer. Railroads enter this city from 
every point of the compass, factories are busy, and 
beautiful, picturesque homes are situated in every 
part of the city. Houston is gaining every day 
as a center of commercial activity. 

She pauses at the picture of the city built in the 
hills : at a building of native stone, in size exceed- 
ing the ancient temples, surrounded by flowers, trees, 
winding walks and driveways, with here and there 
a statue or a monument erected to the memory 
of some great Texan. 

This is our state house in the city of Austin. 
Near it is the university planned for us when 
Texas was a republic. There are other splendid 
substantial buildings here, and ere the Sibyl hurries 
past she tells us that Texas cares for all of her 
children, not only those robust in mind and body. 



The Sibyl's Story 143 

but for the deaf and dumb, the Wind and the insane. 

In the beautiful picture of San Antonio, we 
recognize the Alamo, but unlike the picture we 
saw in. the first pages of the book, it is now sur- 
rounded by busy streets and business houses 
Near it is a handsome government building. Men 
and women are hurrying to and fro, for the old 
historic town of Bexar is now a throbbing, thriv- 
ing city. Though the sacred missions are safe 
in their historic settings, there are many blocks of 
business houses, handsome churches, homes and 
parks. 

East Texas, with its fruits and pine trees, fine 
gardens, red hills, good old homes and noble people, 
is still sending her sons to fill places of honor and 
trust. 

The city of Dallas has outgrown the fondest 
expectations of her most sanguine citizens. Her 
schools, colleges, superb stone and steel business 
houses, her enormous cotton, wheat and corn sup- 
ply, and her citizenship, including men from every 
state and every country, place her very high on 
the roll of Texas cities. 

Fort Worth, which, from a fort on the Trinity 
river, has developed like magic into a bustling, up- 
to-date city, is the " Gateway of Our West," and 
few cities or towns in Texas more thoroughly speak 
the growth and individuality of Texas than does 
Fort Worth. 

North of Fort Worth and west, where once the 



144 Texas Hero Stories 

Indian roamed and the buffalo in herds grazed on 
the silent prairies, civic pride has so advanced as 
to present to the traveler cities and towns of sub- 
stantial growth and marked development. In each 
one, the largest and the smallest, are schools and 
churches. 

El Paso, the old " pass to the North," the city 
on our Mexic border, is a charming combination 
of the old and the new, the ancient and the modern. 

To cross the Rio Grande at El Paso is like 
stepping from the twentieth to the fifteenth cen- 
tury. On our side is a typical American city while 
across the river is the quaint, quiet, curious village, 
which bespeaks our nearness to another republic. 

At the various health-giving springs and wells of 
Texas are suffering men and women from many 
localities come to regain health and strength. 

The Sibyl shows us a picture of a cotton field in 
southern Texas, white with its bursting bolls, the 
negroes singing as they gather the fleecy product 
into great baskets, and she tells us that a third of 
the cotton raised in the United States comes from 
Texas. 

That is something for us to think about. Then, 
in rapid succession, a corn field, and a rice field 
on our coast ; fruits, vegetables and melons grown 
in our ow^n soil, the size of wdiich leads us to be- 
lieve that su.rely we are under the magic influence 
of the Sibyl's voice and power. 

The tall, dark pine trees in our lumber districts 



The Sibyl's Story 145 

seem to pierce the sky and the Sibyl tells us that 
our lumber market, great as it is, is not near what 
it is going to be. 

What a sight confronts us as we view the last 
page of the Sibyl's book ! 

There are millions of people living in Texas and 
others coming just as fast as they can! 

In many cities and towns factories are located, 
and others are being erected, which give employ- 
ment to thousands of men and w^omen. Electric 
cars connect the Texas cities, and others are in 
process of construction. 

The Texas oil fields are attracting the attention 
of the world, bringing thousands of commercial 
men to Texas each year, and the demand for Texas 
oil is constantly increasing. 

We cannot possibly see the extent of prairies 
covered with fine cattle, or count the miles, in 
splendid cultivation, of cotton, corn, wheat, oats, 
rye, rice and tobacco. Orchards, without bound, 
and gardens of fairest flowers surround the Texas 
homes in the city or in the open, beautiful country. 

In every county are substantial school houses, 
and all are filled with ambitious, energetic bovs and 
girls determined to win for Texas. We do not 
wait to be told that these are the public schools. 
Statues and monuments are being erected by the 
Texas people as tributes of gratitude to those 
heroes, whose names the Sibyl called as she turned 
the pages of her book. 



146 Texas Hero Stories 

We see many more pictures, for there are many 
more things than these in Texas, but to call the name 
of every good Texas town and tell of its particular 
" goodness," and to name all of the advantages of 
living in Texas, would require a much larger book, 
even than the Sibyl's, so we will hurry on and watch 
the Sibyl slowly and deliberately close her book. 

We remember that she " judges the future of a 
country by consulting the annals of its past," and 
while we are wondering what can be the future 
of a people who so well deserve success, and who 
have paid so dearly for it, the Sibyl begins to tell 
us a story, introducing her favorite characters. 

We sit fascinated as we listen to the Sibyl's 
Story : — 

Your Texas of to-day is the fond realization of 
the hopes, the efforts and the ambitions of the brave 
'' Knight of King Louis." This fearless adventurer 
brought with him faith, courage, energy and self- 
reliance. These have remained in Texas to mark 
the individuality of the Texan. These powers 
guide the destiny of your commonwealth and cre- 
ate " the spirit of Texas." 

Your empire founders placed the first stone in a 
structure which has grown slowly, steadily, posi- 
tively ; they placed the foundation. 

Could such feats in a wilderness, performed 
amidst peril and sickening danger, have been ac- 
complished without an inspiration, without a pow- 
erful force of control? 



The Sibyl's Story 147 

The impulse to colonize Texas, taking hold, as 
it did, upon a man of genius, knowledge and great 
heart, was in answer to tlie spirit of Texas, who 
selected the bravest, the choicest, the rarest, and 
compelled him Texasward. 

Your Texas of to-day stands to verify, to in- 
dorse, to fulfill the well-laid plan of the '' Father of 
Texas." 

This spirit of Texas wooed, begged and caressed 
the Tennessee *' Bear Hunter," until he irresistibly 
answered and crossed fen and moor, in rain and 
sun, to fight for the freedom of men of his own 
race. 

This same spirit made death in the Alamo a vic- 
torv ! It inspired the hearts of martyrs with its 
poW'Cr of faith, as their souls departed to the God of 
the fearless and the free, " to be enrolled with the 
hosts of the glorified." 

On the morning of San Jacinto, the great chief- 
tain, master of men and actions in the Providence 
of God, was led by the spirit of Texas. He w^as 
not acting for an hour or for a day, but for all time, 
for all history, for a country's destiny. 

He looked ahead at fair fields and ripening vine- 
vards, at the " promised land " which is yours to- 
day. Like the great leader of Israel, he led his 
people into the possession of a God-given inherit- 
ance. 

Peace spreads her fair wings over you and you 
are free from dangers. Your homes, your cities, 



148 Texas Hero Stories 

your state have been spared to you by the incar- 
nate spirits of Texas, those riders over plain and 
prairie who form in their organization, your pow- 
erful civic protection. 

You should love your Rangers on the plains and 
with grateful hearts remember that your ease and 
peace of mind to-day are a result of their vigilance 
and intrepid manhood. 

Texas' beloved soldier-son begged to sleep his 
last long sleep secure in her arms. The great en- 
gineer and soldier who had distanced her hills, 
plains and rivers and watched her stars by night, 
felt the spirit of Texas, recognized her majestic 
possibilities and though loved by an entire nation, 
the " Hero of Shiloh," even unto death, loved Texas 
best of all. 

Your '* War Governor " could look back to see 
and forward to listen in so unique and important 
a time did he serve his people. Texas history was 
rapidly made during his long, eventful life, and he 
lived and loved and grew old in the inspiration of 
the spirit of Texas. 

The Sibyl's face brightened as she said, ' Not 
vours, but the South's, not the South 's, but the 
world's,' was ' The Old Roman ! ' The spirit of 
Texas which sent him forth that the world might 
be helped and strengthened by his force of will and 
mind, brought him back to love Texas more than 
before. 

And then, one born in Texas, son of her soil, voic- 



The Sibyl's Story 149 

ing the needs of the people, fought for them as val- 
iantly as did the soldiers of San Jacinto. It was 
the spirit of Texas which filled the heart of the 
'' Tribune of the people," when he faced the world 
uncorrupted by ambition, un warped by power and 
never dazzled by glory. 

We ask her how it was that they were so great 
and good, so marvelous in endurance, and what 
Avas the secret of their power? 

She tells us that the world has never seen a peo- 
ple better equipped to take care of themselves or 
more disposed to do it than the Texans. Because 
they could control themselves they were able to 
control the world, and that the ability to control 
themselves has marked their lives as individuals 
and as a people from the beginning. Then she 
adds, *' The first element in the control of others is 
invariably self-control." Let us think long and well 
upon what she has said. 

She tells us that Texas is not a state, merely, it 
is, rather, a thought, quickened, greatened, and de- 
veloped into a people and ripened into a race. 
That Texas is a result of the will of God and the 
best work of men, no " mushroom grown in a 
night," and no accident out of line with great 
events. That the early Texas men and women be- 
lieved that to be right was to be rich, and that 
privation, suffering and starvation were small prices 
to pay for personal liberty. There was never a 
nation more noblv born. 



150 Texas Hero Stories 

Believing- in the divinity of truth and the su- 
premacy of God, they v/ere a people born of free 
opinion, free conviction and free citizenship, and 
out of these precious, priceless sources has ema- 
nated our great Texas. 

Then, again, we ask her if she loves the sons of 
Texas of to-day as she loved their fathers ? She 
does not hesitate to tell us that she does, that there 
are those among the Texans of to-day who are 
genuine, true and strong, noble in word and deed 
and that the Texas fathers are glorified in their 
sons. 

With her face turned toward the east, she looks 
into the blue as though she can see still brighter, 
better and nobler things than she has enumerated 
to us. 

As we reluctantly leave her, she rises and, point- 
ing significantly to the broad valleys and sun- 
kissed hills of Texas, which now we love more than 
before, and to which we renew allegiance, she 
says, with ringing voice : 

All things to you are possible ! 
All things are yours ! The best is yet to come ! 
For Texas is your inheritance! . 



m^9 m^ 



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